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A   DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON 


Xetters  anb  "Viotcs 
1871-1877 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    FRENCH 

OF 

CHARLES  GAVARD 

/I 

2  2  i  V  2  \/       <}••' 

NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 

1897 


Copyright,  1897, 

BY 

HENRY  HOLT  &  CO. 


^«p       c^ccc 


PRINTED    BY  ROBERT  DRUMMOND,  KEW  YORK, 


fl^PK 


PREFACE. 

The  Letters  and  Notes  contained  in  this  volume 
were  not  written  for  publication.  Their  author,  M. 
Charles  Gavard,  who  died  in  July,  1893,  was  a  mem- 
ber from  1 87 1  to  1877  of  the  French  Embassy  at 
London,  first  as  Chief  Secretary,  and  then  as  Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary  acting  as  Charge  d' Affaires, 
Having  had  the  art  to  make  himself  a  welcome 
guest,  not  only  among  political  circles  in  England, 
but  also  in  society,  he  was  in  a  position  to  see  a 
great  many  things  that  he  felt  would  be  of  interest 
to  his  family,  and  that  he  accordingly  described  from 
day  to  day  in  his  letters  home.  Also,  once  relieved 
from  active  service,  he  jotted  down  certain  of  his 
recollections  for  his  own  use.  It  has  been  thought 
that  extracts  from  these  letters  and  notes  might  be 
of  general  interest.  The  public,  to  whom  they  are 
submitted,  must  be  the  judge. 

It  seems  not  improper  to  reprint  here  two  notices 
of  M.  Gavard  that  were  published  immediately  after 
his  decease. 

The  first  of  them,  written  by  the  Due  de  Broglie  for 
the  Correspondant  of  July  25th,  1893,  is  as  follows: 

**  In  a  study  that  has  just  appeared  in  to-day's 

Correspondant y  I  was  led  to  dwell  at  some  length  on 

the  difficulties  of  the  situation  in  which  M.  Thiers 

ill 


657^ '^.^^ 


iv  PREFACE. 

placed  the  ambassador  he  sent  to  London  when  he 
commissioned  him  in  the  name  of  France  (then  suf- 
fering under  so  cruel  an  ordeal)  to  take  part  in  a 
European  conference.  By  a  melancholy  coinci- 
dence, the  Correspondant  in  the  same  issue  announced 
to  its  readers  the  premature  death  of  one  of  its 
former  contributors — M.  Charles  Gavard.  It  was 
this  M.  Charles  Gavard  who  accompanied  the  French 
Ambassador  on  the  painful  mission  above  referred 
to,  and  afforded  him  the  no  slight  advantage  of 
his  intelligent  and  friendly  co-operation. 

"  When  I  left  Paris  at  M.  Thiers*  command,  I  be- 
sought M.  Gavard  to  accompany  me,  mainly  for  the 
reason,  that  as  an  attache  of  the  commerce  depart- 
ment of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  (he  had 
been  in  that  Department  from  his  youth  upwards), 
his  services  had  been  such  that  he  had  been 
rapidly  promoted  to  a  high  post,  and  because 
I  foresaw  that,  to  ease  the  difficulties  growing 
out  of  our  enormous  war-indemnity,  France  would 
very  possibly  be  obliged  to  ask  the  English  Gov- 
ernment to  consent  to  certain  modifications  of 
the  customs-treaty  that  at  that  time  governed 
the  relations  between  the  two  countries.  More 
than  that,  the  treaty  of  commerce,  concluded  in 
1862  by  the  Empire  and  arranged  to  last  for  ten 
years,  was  approaching  its  period,  and  the  negotia- 
tions that  must  attend  its  expiration  would  inevi- 
tably call  for  special  knowledge  of  the  sort  that  M. 
Gavard  possessed.  But  I  soon  recognized  also  in 
him  an  intelligence  of  a  high  order  in  matters  of 
politics — good   judgment,  delicate   tact,  a   prompt 


PREFACE.  V 

knowledge  of  men — all  the  qualities,  in  a  word,  that 
go  to  make  up  a  diplomatic  agent  to  whom  the 
care  of  interests  of  all  kinds  may  be  confided. 

"  We  were  surprised  at  London  by  the  news  of  the 
momentary  success  of  the  insurrection  at  Paris. 
When  I  found  myself  obliged  to  hasten  back  to  Ver- 
sailles, where  my  duties  as  a  member  of  the  National 
Assembly  called  me,  M.  Gavard  was  anxious  to  go 
with  me — to  bear  his  part  in  the  strange  events,  the 
gravity  of  which  we  felt  it  was  impossible  at  a  dis- 
tance rightly  to  estimate.  We  passed  the  sea,  (un- 
certain in  what  state  we  should  find  France),  in  the 
company  of  a  traveller  whose  incognito  we  had 
promised  to  respect.  He  was  Robert  le  Fort,  who 
had  donned  once  more  the  simple  officer's  uniform 
he  had  presented  to  the  Prussian  bullets,  and  was 
going  to  offer  his  services  to  aid  in  the  preservation 
of  society.  M.  Gavard  felt  a  hereditary  attachment 
to  the  princes  of  the  ruling  house  in  France,  and 
the  memory  of  this  night  of  anxiety  passed  in  com- 
mon did  not  tend  to  diminish  the  confidence  with 
which  they  have  always  honored  him. 

**  M.  Thiers  conferred  on  M.  Gavard  the  post  of 
First  Secretary  of  the  Embassy  at  London,  which 
(save  during  an  interval  which  he  passed  in  Paris  as 
the  chief  of  the  minister's  cabinet)  he  held  for  nearly 
seven  years.  It  is  very  uncommon  nowadays  for  a 
post  of  that  sort  to  be  held  for  so  long  a  period. 
And  it  is  but  right  to  add  that  during  M.  Gavard's 
term  of  office  the  French  Ambassador  to  London 
was  several  times  changed — M.  Gavard  was  called 
upon  first  and  last  to  serve  under  a  number  of  su- 


vi  PREFACE, 

periors,  and  to  all  of  them  he  rendered  services  on 
which  they  justly  set  a  high  value.  Whenever  his 
chief  was  absent,  M.  Gavard  was  called  upon  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
In  this  capacity  he  found  himself  obliged  a  number 
of  times  to  deal,  on  his  own  responsibility,  with  ques- 
tions of  great  delicacy ;  and  in  the  cases  in  which  he 
did  so  he  received  the  prompt  approbation  of  the 
Due  Decazes — the  accomplished  minister  who  was 
then  in  charge  of  our  Foreign  Affairs. 

"  Such  occasions  were  really  for  M.  Gavard  but  so 
many  opportunities  to  show  a  prudence,  a  precision 
of  language,  and  a  trustworthiness,  that  brought 
him  in  England,  where  such  qualities  are  highly 
appreciated,  a  number  of  valuable  friendships. 
When  his  turn  came  to  bear  his  share  in  the  polit- 
ical misfortunes  of  his  friends  and  to  retire  to  private 
life,  these  attachments  subsisted  in  spite  of  absence 
and  lapse  of  time,  and  such  and  such  an  important 
parliamentary  personage,  such  and  such  a  great  lord 
of  the  upper  house  even,  such  and  such  a  distin- 
guished writer  or  representative  of  the  press,  never 
passed  through  Paris  without  coming  to  shake  hands 
with  him  and  pay  their  respects  to  his  household, 
where  a  reception  of  an  amiable  and  charming  sim- 
plicity always  awaited  them. 

"  More  than  that,  these  steadfast  friends  of  his  cor- 
responded with  him,  kept  him  informed  of  the  little 
incidents  that  promised  to  prove  of  importance  in 
the  English  poHtical  world — the  world  of  which  the 
French  know  so  little.  It  was  they  who  supplied 
him  with  the  materials  for  the  articles  he  contributed 


PREFACE,  vii 

regularly  to  the  Franqais  and  the  Moniteur,  and  not 
infrequently  to  the  Correspondant.  In  especial  the 
reader  may  remember  a  most  interesting  series  of 
studies  on  the  electoral  crisis  of  1885 — the  one  which 
brought  Gladstone,  after  his  sudden  conversion  to 
Home  Rule,  back  to  power.  The  consequences  of 
this  belated  change  of  front  on  the  part  of  the  old 
parliamentary  leader,  the  new  classification  of  parties 
that  would  result  from  it,  the  new  features  of  the 
coming  struggle,  were  all  described  beforehand  with 
a  freshness  of  prevision  that  the  events  day  after  day 
confirmed.  Unhappily,  three  years  ago  a  cruel  ill- 
ness put  a  period  to  M.  Gavard's  writing  ;  and  those 
who  knew  him  intimately  saw  with  pain  the  steady 
progress  of  his  malady  and  the  suffering  which  he 
referred  to  so  seldom  and  endured  with  such  coura- 
geous and  Christian  resignation.** 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  M.  Paul  Mureau- 
Dogin.     It  appeared  in  the  Moniteur  for  July  12th, 

1893. 

"  The  Moniteur  has  just  suffered  a  severe  loss. 
Our  friend  and  former  contributor,  M.  Charles 
Gavard,  succumbed  last  night  to  the  malady  which 
long  since  interrupted  his  labors.  Our  readers  have 
surely  not  forgotten  the  admirable  articles  signed 
J.  J.  with  their  distinction,  their  clever  turns,  their 
light,  sure  touch.  Foreign  politics  have  seldom  been 
discussed  so  competently.  But  M.  Gavard  brought 
to  the  task  an  acquisition  that  journalists  by  profes- 
sion rarely  possess — a  personal  experience  in  great 
diplomatic  affairs. 

*'  He  entered  the  ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  when 


viii  Preface, 

he  was  a  young  man  ;  he  won  the  notice  of  his  supe- 
riors, was  sent  to  London  after  the  war  of  1870,  and 
filled  there  for  many  years  the  post  of  Chief  Secretary, 
then  that  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary  and  Chargd 
d' Affaires.  Serving  as  he  did  under  a  succession  of 
Ambassadors  who  were  one  after  another  incessantly 
being  recalled  for  reasons  of  party  politics,  M. 
Gavard  found  himself  called  upon  to  play  a  role 
above  his  title  :  he  was  more  than  once  obliged  in 
circumstances  of  great  gravity  to  act  as  the  sole 
representative  of  France  at  the  court  of  St.  James ; 
and  by  his  coolness,  his  foresight,  his  tact,  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  his  standing  in 
English  *  Society,'  he  proved  always  equal  to  the 
occasion.  A  diplomatist  of  the  old  school,  he  did 
not  (as  too  many  others  do)  call  special  attention  to 
the  dangers  he  had  conjured  away, — at  the  risk  of 
causing  them  to  reappear  again  ;  but  some  day,  we 
hope,  the  services  he  rendered  his  country  will  be 
known,  and  how,  for  instance,  at  such  and  such  a 
time,  the  measures  he  took,  on  his  own  responsibility, 
with  one  of  the  members  of  the  British  cabinet 
frustrated  the  evil  designs  of  Prince  Bismarck.  M. 
Gavard*s  long  sojourn  at  London  was  interrupted 
for  the  few  months  only,  in  1873,  during  which  the 
Due  de  Broglie  was  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs : 
the  Due  de  Broglie  appreciated  his  friend's  value 
and  appointed  him  chief  of  his  cabinet. 

^'  M.  Gavard's  loyalty  to  his  own  party  exposed  him 
to  a  hostility  in  certain  quarters,  that  a  man  of  his 
independent  spirit  naturally  disdained  to  take  pre- 
cautions  against,  and  when    the   Left  Wing  came 


PREFACE,  IX 

to  power,  in  spite  of  all  the  patriotic  reasons  in 
favor  of  M.  Gavard*s  being  kept  at  London  he  was 
one  of  the  first  victims  of  the  change  of  administra- 
tion. He  made  use  of  his  freedom  to  defend  his 
convictions  in  the  press.  First  as  a  contributor  to 
the  Frangais,  then  of  the  Moniteur  (after  the  consol- 
idation of  the  two  papers),  he  concerned  himself  in 
the  main  with  the  questions,  to-day  so  important, 
of  Foreign  Affairs.  He  was  not,  however,  indifferent 
to  the  other  aspects  of  politics.  An  enlightened 
liberal,  a  monarchist  by  conviction,  the  Princes  had 
always  found  in  him  a  friend  and  had  always  placed 
in  him  especial  confidence. 

"  Much  sought  after  in  Parisian  society  for  the 
grace  of  his  wit  and  the  soundness  of  his  character, 
seconded  in  his  own  household  by  the  rare  concur- 
rence of  an  exquisite  affability  and  a  superior  intel- 
ligence, his  salon  was  one  of  the  few  in  which 
one  still  found  good  talk.  Need  I  speak  of  the  man 
as  he  revealed  himself  to  those  who  penetrated 
beyond  the  barrier  of  a  somewhat  proud  reserve  ? 
behind  which  he  habitually  took  refuge  from  the 
curiosity  of  the  public  ?  His  uprightness,  the  mingled 
warmth  and  discretion  of  his  temperament,  his 
devoted  tenderness,  his  disinterested  fidelity  were 
not  unknown  to  his  friends  and  will  never  by  them 
be  forgotten.  Under  the  affliction  of  a  long  illness 
which  undermined  one  after  another  all  his  powers, 
he  was  even-tempered  and  patient ;  it  was  to  religion 
that  he  looked  for  his  support,  it  is  to  religion  that 
those  who  naourn  him  must  look  for  consolation/' 


'  J      ■>      » 


A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON. 


THE  YEAR  1871. 
Extracts  from  tbe  MotCB  ot  /»♦  (5avar&* 

My  being  sent  to  England  began  with  a  despatch 
that  the  Due  de  Broglie  ^  addressed  from  Bordeaux 
to  M.  Jules  Favre,  asking  for  a  young  man,  who 
knew  English  well,  to  go  with  him  to  London.  The 
Duke  was  something  surprised  and  much  satisfied, 
upon  his  arrival  in  Paris,  to  learn  that  the  choice  of 
the  minister  had  fallen  on  M.  Gavard  and  that 
this  '* youthful'*  attach^  of  his  staff  was  to  be 
myself.  '^ 

I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  M.  Jules  Favre 
in  the  cruel  days  of  the  siege.  When  despatches  or 
the  microscopic  reductions  of  the  '*  Times  '*  were 
brought  in  by  the  pigeons,  under  their  wings,  I 
often  served  him  as  translator.  The  head- 
quarters^ of  the  ambulance  department  were  near 

*  M.  Thiers,  immediately  upon  becoming  head  of  the  government, 
had  prayed  the  Due  de  Broglie  to  accept  the  embassy  to  London. 

^  M.  Gavard,  the  sous-directeur  des  consulats,  had  been  attached 
to  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  since  1848. 

3  The  direction  of  the  ambulance  was  in  the  hands  of  M.  Gavard 
during  the  siege  of  Paris. 

I 


2  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

hil^  pffice--^.\veJ-§/hbt:  uncommonly  at  his  ofRce,  to 
say  the  trutK,  'for 'he  h.ad  got  into  the  habit  of  send- 
/•uig^l^r-iyrts:; -I  Jr^Aipniber  more  than  one  night- 
sitting  and  the  patriotic  exclamations  he  let  fall. 

Our  arrangements  were  soon  made.  An  ambu- 
lance-wagon took  the  Duke  and  myself  to  the 
station  the  morning  of  February  twenty-third. 

By  the  twenty-fifth,  Lord  Granville  paid  a  visit  to 
the  Duke  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel  where  we  had  put 
up,  and  pressed  him  to  complete,  by  the  concurrence 
of  France,  the  consent  of  Europe  to  rehandling  the 
treaty  of  1856  and  annulling  the  clause  which  de- 
clared the  Black  Sea  neutral.  You  may  readily  con- 
ceive we  were  in  no  hurry  to  wipe  out  an  arrange- 
ment which  our  soldiers  in  the  Crimea,  quite  gratui- 
tously in  my  judgment,  had  bought  at  the  price  of 
blood,  and  in  especial  to  ratify  with  our  signature 
the  by-gone  bargain  between  Germany  and  Russia 
for  the  spoliation  of  France.  It  is  true  that,  after 
having  given  up  our  provinces  to  Germany,  it  was 
easy  to  give  up  the  treaty  on  the  Black  Sea.  The 
hurniliation  was  for  England,  and  she  began  to  ex- 
piate it  even  before  our  signature  was  complete. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  recall  in  what  terms  the  Due  de 
Broglie  gave  in  his  consent  to  this  deed  of  violence : 
**  France,  solely  not  to  separate  herself  from  the 
other  powers,  submits  to  facts  accomplished  without 
her  participation.'*  The  sort  of  resignation  that  is 
becoming  in  the  vanquished  was  not,  in  that  remark, 
unseasoned  by  the  reserve  that  it  was  proper  to 
maintain  in  the  presence  of  England's  gratuitous 
capitulation.     This  reserve   marked   an  irony  that 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  3 

the  German  plenipotentiary  felt  only  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  and  that  the  representatives  of  England 
did  not  choose  to  take  notice  of.  It  is  true,  that 
they  had  had  fears  of  a  protest  of  quite  another 
sort,  and  if  the  Due  de  Broglie  had  given  heed  to 
the  instructions  sent  him  at  the  last  moment,  he 
would  have  seized  this  occasion  to  annul  by  his 
declaration  at  London  the  capitulation  of  Paris. 
But  that  would  have  been  to  hand  France  over  to 
the  vengeance  of  Prince  Bismarck. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  cabinet  meanwhile  did  itself  the 
honor  of  yielding  to  the  pressing  instances  of  the 
Due  de  Broglie  and  of  getting  Germany  at  his  re- 
quest to  knock  off  a  billion  from  the  figure  of  our 
ransom.  It  is  no  more  than  just  to  state  the  efforts 
made  by  our  ambassador  at  London,  and  by  the 
ministers  of  Queen  Victoria  at  Versailles,  during  the 
first  days  of  March.  When  we  recollect  the  mingled 
respect  and  fear  with  which  it  was  then  the  custom 
to  pronounce  the  CHancellor's  name,  we  should  be 
grateful  for  the  representations  that  the  Due  de 
Broglie  obtained  from  them.  Of  Strasburg  and 
Metz  there  was  no  word  said  ;  but  the  economist  in 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  touched  by  the  notion  of  lessen- 
ing the  figure  imposed  on  us  ;  he  sincerely  believed 
that  it  was  an  impossibility  for  us  to  pay  it,  and 
since  then  he  has  often  avowed  to  me  that  he  has 
never  been  able  to  understand  how  the  thing  can 
have  proved  possible. 


Bitracte  ttom  tbe  private  Correepon^ence  ot  USs.  6a\>arD» 

London,  Clarendon-Hotel,  February,  14,  1871. 
Here  we  are  at  last  in  a  land  where  there  are  no 
Prussians !  .  .  Superb  passage.  .  .  I  did  not  turn 
in  once  except  for  sleep.  .  .  To  be  frank,  nobody- 
was  seasick.  Conversation  hardly  languished  day 
or  night.  At  our  arrival  at  the  Victoria  Station  I 
recognized  in  the  dusk  the  whole  staff  of  the  Em- 
bassy. Since  then  we  have  been  conferring  and 
talking  incessantly.  We  are  all  under  the  same 
roof — there's  not  a  vacant  room  in  London. 

London,  February  26,  1871. 

No  doubt  you  know  what  will  happen  in  France 
to-morrow  :  a  frightful  war  or  a  more  frightful  peace  : 
Both  look  to  me  equally  impossible,  and  yet  .  .  . 
it  will  be  one  or  the  other.  I  am  here,  but  I  am 
still  more  truly  with  you. 

We  have  exerted  ourselves  day  and  night  since 
our  arrival.  What  have  we  gained  ?  .  .  .  Surely  a 
personal  success  for  the  Duke.  .  .  What  will  the 
step  prove  to  be  worth  that  he  has  induced  Lord 
Granville  to  take  ?  ^ 

*  As  above  said,  at  the  instance   of  the  Due  de  Broglie,  Lord 
Granville  and  then  Mr.  Gladstone  brought  a  pressure  to  bear  on 
Germany  to  obtain  from  her  the  reduction  of  a  billion  from  the 
amount  of  our  ransom. 
4 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  5 

Yesterday  I  went  to  Morgan  House  ^ — nobody  at 
home.  On  the  train  from  Richmond,  as  I  was  coming 
back,  I  found  myself  face  to  face  with  the  Duchesse 
de  Chartres  and  the  young  Princesse  Marie.^  They 
were  pleased  when  I  announced  that  the  Duke  would 
pay  them  a  visit  in  a  few  days  and  made  an  appoint- 
ment for  a  '  chance  '  meeting  to-day. 

The  Due  de  Broglie's  impression,  after  a  long 
conversation  with  the  Comte  de  Paris,  is  capital. 
Here  was  this  family  at  hand  ;  every  member  of  it, 
civil  and  military,  is  distinguished  and  patriotic 
beyond  reproach,  and  we  kicked  them  out  to  replace 
them  by  the  craftsmen  of  our  ruin  and  shame. 
There  is  a  perfect  understanding  among  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  ;  their  only  desire  is  to  come  back, 
they  understand  all  the  necessities  of  the  case,  but 
they  offer  no  sacrifice  to  a  meretricious  popularity, 
there  is  no  manoeuvring,  no  intrigue — it  is  admirable. 

London,  February  28,  1871. 

To  learn  in  the  chimney-corner  that  one's  house 
is  menaced  by  the  Prussians  and  the  Bastille  assas- 
sins at  the  same  time  !  ^  I  don't  know  what  to  think ; 
I  anticipated  nothing  of  all  this  ;  I  wouldn't  have 
believed  either  in  the  Prussian  occupation  or  in 
Vinoy's  inertia  in  the  presence  of  a  riot  semi-mili- 
tary. .  . 

We  are  at  the  Embassy.     We  should  need  some- 

*  Residence  of  the  Due  de  Chartres. 

*  S.  A.  R.  Madame  la  Princesse  Marie  d'Orleans,   now  Princesse 
Waldemar  of  Denmark. 

3  Highwaymen  had  been  chasing  the  police  and  throwing  them 
into  the  canal. 


6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  [1871. 

thing  like  security  and  leisure  to  turn  our  stay  to 
account.  The  Due  de  Broglie  has  made  his  d^but 
by  a  diplomatic  success — a  success,  alas  !  merely 
personal,  but  which  may  become  the  beginning  of  a 
reaction. 

Everybody  here  is  stunned  ;  it  is  out  of  fear  that 
nobody  speaks  out.  Europe,  the  Society  of  Peo- 
ples, no  longer  exists,  if  force  is  permitted  to  move 
unchecked  like  that  to  the  bitter  end.  It  is  a  trib- 
utary and  a  vassal  France  that  they  are  setting  up, 
and  we  must  bow  the  head.  And  at  present,  what's 
to  be  done  ?  We  shall  never  be  less  in  shape  than 
we  are  now  for  the  supreme  effort  of  deliverance. 

London,  March  i,  1871. 

Five  o'clock,  and  we  know  nothing  of  the  day  ;  ^ 
the  Duke  thinks  the  rodomontades  will  vanish  in 
smoke  at  the  approach  of  the  Prussians.  I  don't 
believe  either  that  there  will  be  any  resistance  ;  but 
there  is  always  the  chance  pistol-shot  that  precipi- 
tates things. 

The  uneasiness  here  is  extreme.  The  English 
public  understands,  as  we  do,  that  it  is  a  perpetual 
war  that  is  beginning.  It  doesn't  dare  say  anything, 
but  it  is  discontented  with  the  role  its  government 
has  played. 

Before  going  in  to  see  Parliament,  I  paid  a  visit 
to  Westminster.  All  these  dead  reunited  in  a  place 
of  worship  and  repose  in  the  centre  of  the  city  give 
one  an  impression  of  union,  of  fatherland.  Every 
time  that  I  remark  upon  anything  here,  it  is  the 
*  The  entry  of  the  Prussians  into  the  Bojs  de  Boulogne, 


1^71.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  f 

occasion  of  a  sad  return  upon  ourselves.  In  the  House 
of  Commons  I  take  my  place  in  the  gallery  reserved 
for  the  diplomatic  corps,  but  Fm  no  farther  ahead, 
and  can  catch  some  bits  of  phrases  here  and  there, 
that's  all.  There  were  some  young  colonels  with  their 
hair  parted  in  the  middle  defending  the  Purchase  of 
Commissions  ;  so  be  it.  There  is  something  to  be 
said,  for  and  against ;  but  what  strikes  me,  gentle- 
men, is  that  you  are  doing  what  we  did  the  day 
after  Sadowa.     Hurry  up  and  try  to  do  better. 

Yesterday,  made  my  first  visit  to  the  Kensington 
Museum.  It  is  really  very  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive :  one  might  get  one's  whole  education  in  this 
place  ;  but  there  are  too  many  English  paintings. 
They  begin  with  Gainsborough  and  Reynolds  ;  I 
don't  say  no,  I  often  admire  them,  even  in  spite  of 
certain  contrasts  of  color  that  remind  me  of  toast- 
and-jam.  As  to  the  school  of  to-day,  molasses 
candy — if  that's  what  you  like,  there  you  have  it, 
and  there  the  mob  stays  ;  I  was  literally  sick.  .  .  To 
pull  myself  together  again  I  fled  to  the  hall  that 
shelters  Raphael's  cartoons :  there  is  breadth  to 
them,  they  are  great,  puissant,  profound  ;  you  are  in 
the  presence  of  a  master,  you  look,  you  listen,  you 
profit.  Would  you  believe  it,  they  have  never  found 
out  that  these  seven  cartoons  fill  a  room  ?  They 
have  added  antique  chests,  pictures,  whatever  they 
could  to  embarrass  and  distract  the  attention. 

Before  dinner,  as  I  was  walking  with  the  Duke,  I 
saw  at  a  distance  the  Due  de  Gramont.^     Delicate 

^  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  under  the  Empire  at  the  time  of  the 
declaration  of  war. 


8  A  DIPLOMAT  /JV  LONDON,  [1871. 

situation  for  me  between  my  ambassador  and  my 
former  minister.  I  had  to  wait  for  his  bow,  what- 
ever it  might  cost  me.  It  was  done  in  extremiSy 
and  I  saluted  after  my  chief.  Really,  how  can 
these  poor  devils  hve  through  it  ? 

London,  March  2,  1871. 
People  here  are  evidently  beginning  to  be  dis- 
turbed: it  is  the  English  that  are  paying,  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  treaty  of  1856,  for  the  service  Russia 
has  rendered  Prussia.  There  is  no  longer  a  *  balance 
of  power,'  there  are  no  longer  any  guaranties  for 
anybody,  with  a  second  Poland  and  a  secret  fund  of 
five  bilHons  in  the  cashbox  of  Frederick,  Bismarck 
&  Co.  This  war-reserve  will  drain  the  markets  of 
Europe.  We  hold  a  fine  position  here.  We  no 
longer  have  to  weep  at  people's  doors,  to  disturb 
them  with  unreasonable  importunity,  we  have  only 
to  wait,  to  let  things  come  our  way.  The  Duke  does 
so  with  a  master-hand. 

London,  March  5,  1871. 

A  dolorous  telegram  had  just  been  bulletined  in 
the  clubs :  The  Prussians  at  Paris  !  The  Prussians 
clear  to  the  Place  de  la  Concorde  !  Can  it  be  ? 
What  ?  From  to-morrow  on  you  will  be  exposed 
to  all  the  consequences  of  this  barbarous  and  futile 
insult,  and  I  not  there  !  I  dare  not  let  my  thoughts 
dwell  on  you. 

I  don't  doubt  the  ill-omened  treaty  will  be  signed. 
The  only  thing  to  say  is  that  it  would  be  still  more 
ill-omened  if  it  were  not  signed.  It  isn't  a  treaty  of 
peace,  but  a  pact  of  perpetual  war,  one  of  the  treaties 


1871.1  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDOAT,  ^ 

of  peace  such  as  Napoleon  signed  after  each  of  his 
victories.  That  sort  of  thing  lasts  as  long  as  the 
victory  does,  and  up  to  the  present  time  fortune  has 
been  fickle.  That's  the  last  word  of  the  theory  of 
nationalities  under  which  the  wars  of  Italy,  Den- 
mark and  France  were  begun  !  .  .  .  To  have  done 
with  it,  they  have  torn  a  country  from  the  bosom 
of  its  mother,  to  which  it  clung,  like  my  unhappy 
town  of  Metz.  The  feeling  of  disapproval  is  uni- 
versal here ;  it  is  waiting  till  the  thing  shall  have 
been  accomplished  and  till  nothing  can  be  done,  to 
break  out  with  violence.  For  four  months  now 
public  opinion  has  been  veering  every  day  more  and 
more  to  our  side,  by  reason  even  of  the  madness  of 
our  resistance  and  of  the  terror  our  enemies  inspire. 
People  know  now  the  object  of  the  war  ;  it  is  this 
wholesale  and  retail  pillage  that  more  than  any 
thing  else  moves  this  land  of  the '  home '  and  the  *  law.' 
We  started  this  morning  after  mass  for  Richmond 
and  took  the  wrong  railway.  Still,  we  were  at  the 
table  at  Morgan  House  at  the  stated  hour.  The 
horses  here  are  fast,  and  we  had  discovered  our  mis- 
take before  we  were  twenty  leagues  away.  Our  road 
ran  through  the  country  from  Kew  to  Ham,  an  ad- 
mirably tilled  district,  the  trees  a  hundred  years  old, 
cottages  everywhere,  or  brick  houses  cast  in  the 
same  mold,  in  endless  succession  without  life  or 
picturesqueness  ;  not  a  bit  of  wild,  nor  a  touch  for  the 
imagination.  Morgan  House  is  more  than  plain 
outside.  The  interior  is  very  agreeable  and  on  the 
side  of  the  park  looks  out  upon  a  great  green  with 
magnificent    ruminants   in   it.     The    meadows   and 


lO  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

their  old  oaks  constitute  the  magnificence  of  Eng- 
land. The  young  Duchesse  de  Chartres  is  always 
charming.  There  was  a  significant  silence  on  the 
subject  of  the  absent  ones.^  The  Comtesse  de  Paris, 
very  pretty,  vivacious  and  agreeable,  quitted  us  to 
verify  the  report  of  the  committee  of  supplies. 

Do  you  know  that  more  than  fourteen  millions 
has  already  been  got  together  for  our  wounded  and 
other  victims  of  the  war  ? 

Took  a  look,  before  I  left,  at  Orleans  House,  and 
then  at  Bushy  Park.  Hard  by  there  were  oaks  such 
as  grow  nowhere  but  in  a  land  where  the  law  has 
not  been  violated  once  in  at  least  two  hundred 
years. 

We  are  going  to  install  ourselves  at  the  Embassy. 
Imagine  a  first-floor-up,  in  the  middle  of  a  great 
amphitheatre ;  amazons  and  gentlemen  cavalcade 
about  on  every  side.  Be  it  said  by  the  way  that 
this  daily  exhibition,  in  the  heart  of  the  town,  of 
timid  young  girls  who  break  in  horses  while  they 
show  their  own  grace  and  audacity  and  bring  out 
the  contours  of  their  bodies,  constitutes  an  exercise 
that  may  whet  their  appetite  for  lunch,  but  would 
not  appear  to  us  bourgeois  to  prepare  young  people 
for  the  virtues  of  the  fireside. 

London,  March  6,  1871. 

.  .  .  Saturday  evening,  at  the  Foreign  Office.    In 

the  wake  of  a  long  line  of  carriages  we  went  down 

to  the  New  Palace.     Fine  stairway,  and  nothing  else ; 

I  looked  in  vain  for  the  apartments ;  two  or  three 

*  The  Princes  were  then  at  La  Grave,  at  the  Due  Decazes's, 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  It 

adjoining  chambers  might  serve  for  robing-rooms. 
Well,  the  scene  took  place  on  the  double  stairway, 
right  and  left ;  the  crowd  mounting  the  steps  was 
like  a  picture  by  Veronese.  The  Prince  of  Wales 
upon  a  side-landing,  watched  the  coming  up,  with  a 
jocular  air ;  the  Princess  was  interesting,  congenial, 
touched  with  the  distinction  that  suffering  lends 
beauty.  At  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  a  scraping  and 
blaring  of  violins  and  trumpets  in  uniform.  Think 
of  me,  then,  as  in  the  midst  of  aristocratic  English 
society ;  but  where  are  the  Holbein  heads,  and  the 
noble  personages  that  have  walked  out  of  the  frames 
of  Van  Dyck?  I  sought  them  in  vain.  Our  bour- 
geois society  quite  as  justly  satisfies  the  eye.  Not 
one  pretty  woman  anywhere ;  and  yet  in  the  streets, 
on  foot  or  on  horseback,  there  is  no  lack  of  brilliant 
complexions,  nor  of  golden  hair,  real  or  false.  I 
shook  hands  with  Mr.  Gladstone ;  it  is  what  receiv- 
ing the  ribbon  of  the  Legion  d' Honnetir  would  be 
at  Paris.  I  was  much  struck  by  the  somewhat 
rough  expression  of  countenance  of  Mr.  Lowe,  the 
chancellor.^  Guided  by  Franqueville,^  we  reached 
the  Due  de  Broglie,  who  was  a  centre  of  attention 
and  attraction.  His  being  there  in  a  double  capacity 
made  a  sensation.  His  remark  upon  encountering 
M.  de  Bernstorff,  the  Prussian  Ambassador,  was 
going  the  rounds :  it  came  off  at  table  before  the 
reception.  Lady  Stanley  had  been  the  only  person 
between  the  two  belligerents  and  had  shown  herself 

"  Robert  Lowe,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  created  Viscount 
Sherbrooke  in  1880,  died  in  1892. 
^  Comte  de  Franqueville,  now  a  member  of  the  Institute. 


12  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON.  [187!. 

much  preoccupied  with  what  would  happen  when 
the  ladies  withdrew,  and  the  time  should  come  to 
"pass  the  wine/*  *'  Don't  be  afraid,  I'll  find  a  way 
out  of  it,''  the  Duke  said  to  her ;  and  then  presently- 
addressing  the  barbarian :  "  I  have  been  distressed 
so  long  at  seeing  the  Prussians  established  in  my 
home  without  my  having  invited  them,  that  it  is  a 
pleasure  at  the  house  of  a  friend  to  meet  one  of 
them  that  I  can  exchange  courtesies  with." 

The  company  left  at  midnight.  The  next  day,  at 
seven,  we  were  up  and  about,  to  go  to  the  mass  at 
the  Jesuits',  in  a  chapel  in  which  everything  was 
beautifully  finished  and  choice.  The  service  was 
nicely  done,  the  priest  knew  what  he  was  saying 
and  what  he  was  about,  and  it  did  not  all  move 
presto  as  in  Italy.  The  faithful  are  there  for  a  pur- 
pose; they  pray,  they  take  the  sacrament,  with 
devotion  ;  it  is  serious  worship. 

At  eleven  we  were  due  at  York  House  ;  ^  it  was 
France  in  the  person  of  the  Due  de  BrogHe  that 
was  paying  the  visit.  I  fancy  that  both  of  them 
were  gratified  and  touched.  The  Prince  is  always 
simple,  but  perfectly  adequate  to  his  position,  in- 
spiring sympathy  and  confidence  and  displaying 
them  himself ;  the  young  Princess  is  merry :  a 
united  and  affectionate  couple.  The  gay  Princess 
Amelia,^  with  blond  hair,  the  picture  of  her  father 
as  a  child,  is  vivacious  and  amiable;  the  Due 
d'Orl^ans  is  a  stout  youngster  with  hair  more  than 
blond,  who   contributes  his   share  to  the    hubbub. 

*  Residence  of  his  Lordship  the  Comte  de  Paris. 
^  Now  Queen  of  Portugal. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN- LONDON'.  13 

From  every  side,  when  I  enter  any  of  the  retreats 
here  that  our  exiles  have  found,  familiar  images 
attract  my  eyes  ;  everywhere  portraits,  faces  I  have 
loved,  memories ;  the  sketch  of  the  Queen  by 
Scheffer,  a  work  of  art  appreciated  everywhere  ;  but 
I  glanced  at  this  so  quickly  that  I  cannot  stop  long 
to  describe  it. 

Before  lunching,  we  visited  Orleans  House.^  Too 
much  has  not  been  said  about  how  well  the  fortune 
of  the  Due  d*Aumale  has  been  laid  out.  The 
Stratonicey  the  Mort  die  due  de  GuisCy  the  Passage  du 
gu^y  and  the  extraordinary  canvasses  of  Decamps, 
Morhilat,  Fromentin,  besides  the  Vierge  of  the 
Orleans  family  and  the  sword  of  the  great  Cond6. 
It  is  vain  even  to  try  to  examine  the  glass  cases  and 
the  shelves  in  the  library.  It  is  all  very  noble  and 
very  beautiful,  and  framed  in  English  scenery  with 
a  rustic,  modest  little  river,  the  Thames,  running 
through  it,  and  green  everywhere. 

From  York  House  we  went  to  Bushy  Park.  There 
we  found  the  Prince,  yes,  the  Prince,  with  the  best 
grace  in  the  world — but  the  Prince  ! — the  first  gentle- 
man of  France,  Henri  IV.  himself ! — one  would 
think  he  had  stepped  down  from  his  bronze  horse. 
Only,  the  B^arnais  ought  to  speak  more  rapidly. 
The  Prince  expresses  himself  with  the  utmost  good 
sense,  all  the  words  in  their  proper  places,  his  remarks 
perfectly  just  and  sure.  "  The  Republic  has  come 
indeed,*'  he  said,  "  when  you  see  princes  begging  for  a 
seat  in  the  Assembly.**  No  more,  no  less  :  that  speech 
indicates  all  that   he    is   thinking  of,    the  measure 

*  Residence  of  the  Due  d'Aumale.     The  Prince  was  absent. 


14  A  DIPLOMAT  iJSr  LONDON.  \\^^U 

of  his  Legitimism,  and  all  that  he  accepts.  .  .  . 
He  recollected  my  father,  and  /  recollected  his.  ex- 
clamations over  the  lithographs  of  Captain  Gavard 
and  how  he  found  them  *^  wonderfully  like/'  How 
much  has  happened  since,  and  where  would  France 
not  be  to-day,  if  on  a  day  of  glory  and  liberty  she 
had  not  thrust  this  whole  family  out  of  doors,  and 
with  it  the  only  rational  system  of  administration. 
That  is  the  Due  de  Broglie's  perpetual  refrain. 

London,  March  lo,  1871. 

Finished  the  day,  yesterday,  at  Lady  Burdett- 
Coutts's.^  Handsome  house  no  doubt,  but  not 
especially  so  for  the  richest  woman  in  a  private 
station  in  the  world.  She  is  a  large  Englishwoman, 
not  very  young,  with  a  cordial  manner.  In  the 
apartments,  a  pell-mell  that  breathes  a  certain  in- 
timacy, in  which  good  taste  does  not  reign.  I  lit 
upon  a  big  picture  representing  two  thick  booted 
legs  in  air,  incomprehensible  and  mediocre  from  the 
point  of  view  of  art.^  While  I  diverted  myself  with 
this  prodigy,  the  concert  was  going  on  ;  great  suc- 
cess for  a  gentleman  who  was  playing  on  an  accor- 
dion !  Fancy  his  two  arms  approaching  one  another 
with  "  expression,"  and  above  them  his  face,  across 
which  played  the  sentiments  he  was  communicating 
to  his  bellows.  I  can  understand  how  one  can  play 
a  hand-organ — there's  nothing  to  do  but  to  turn  the 
crank  ;  to  acquire  a  skill.  ...  on  the  accordion  !     But 

'Lady  Burdett-Coutts,  created  Baroness  in  1871,  heiress  of  Coutts, 
the  great  banker. 
^  The  fine  pictures  were  at  the  BurUngton  Exposition. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  15 

it  was  much  relished  and  almost  as  well  applauded 
as  a  squeaking  trio,  that  was  led  by  a  boy  with  a 
falsetto  voice.  Come,  no  more  music  nor  painting 
— stick  to  banking  and  try  to  brace  up  your  politics. 
The  newspaper  bulletins,  set  out  on  the  sidewalk 
in  the  streets,  under  the  wheels  of  the  carriages, 
announce:  Red  flag  tit  Paris,  Really  I  can*t  torment 
myself  by  thinking  about  it.  It  seems  as  if  we  had 
but  to  lift  a  finger  for  the  world  to  end. 

London,  March  13,  1871. 

Saturday,  lunched  at  Morgan  House.  I  *  swapped  ' 
stories  of  the  siege  against  the  tales  of  the  marvel- 
lous adventures  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  at  one 
and  the  same  time  Prince  and  Fanfan  la  Tulipe. 
He  wouldn't  have  been  the  one  to  pass  the  day  in 
camp  the  i8th  of  August.^  Children  and  flowers 
everywhere — cats,  horses,  dogs  ;  an  elegant  interior 
with  all  the  English  comforts  brought  together  in  a 
good  taste  that  is  French  ;  affecting  souvenirs  on 
all  the  walls  ;  and  the  Duchess  charming.  I  laid 
a  wager  against  her  that  the  Princes  would  be  either 
recognized,  or  be  elected  everywhere.  I  chuck  my 
recollections  in  pell-mell — you  must  arrange  them 
for  yourself. 

As  I  was  going  out  I  met  the  colony  from 
Twickenham.^  The  talk  was  of  France,  her  perils, 
and  her  future.  Discussing  these  grave  questions 
we  traversed  the  green  which  leads  to  the  Thames, 
got  into  a  ferry-boat,  and  the  dog  threw  himself 
into  the  water  to  follow  us. 

1  An  allusion  to  Bazaine. 

2  JJis  Lordship  the  Compte  de  Paris  and  his  family. 


l6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

Yesterday,  Sunday,  lunched  at  Bushy  Park.  The 
Princess  Marguerite  is  agreeable  ;  the  Comtesse  d'Eu 
wears  an  expression  of  extraordinary  kindness ; 
the  Comte  d'Eu  struggles  with  success  against  his 
deafness.  He  keeps  himself  well-informed,  "up" 
in  everything :  one  sees  that  he  is  a  man  of  merit. 
Henri  IV — I  should  say  the  Due  de  Nemours, 
spoke  to  me  at  divers  times  of  my  father  and  of  the 
lithographs  of  him  ;  he  showed  us  his  family  por- 
traits, the  collection  of  the  Chateau  d'Eu,  with 
comment  full  of  interest. 

Paid  a  visit  to  the  Athenaeum  Club.  It  is  im- 
posssible  to  live  in  England  without  tea,  beer,  han- 
soms, and  clubs. 

Be  it  said  in  passing,  it  is  edifying  to  see  how 
English  society  busies  itself  with  our  troubles.  I 
have  just  returned  from  the  Mansion  House,  where 
the  Lord  Mayor  presided  over  a  Committee  of 
Relief.  Sunday  I  spent  at  a  sitting  of  the  Mar- 
chioness of  Lothians'  ^  committee,  where  I  found  a 
gay  girl  who  spoke  French  with  an  agreeable 
accent  and  was  managing  the  affairs  of  three  or  four 
poor  refugees  (of  her  own  sex)  from  France. To- 
day we  visited  the  Tower.  I  was  much  struck  by 
the  hat  of  the  official  cicerone  ;  I  should  have  said  it 
was  Anne  Boleyn's  execution. 

Wednesday  Morning,  March  16,  1871. 
It  is  snowing  in  great  flakes,  the  spring  showers 
of  March.     It  can't  be  worse  in  any  event  at  Oxford. 

1 C.  H.   Mahonesa,  daughter  of  Lord   Shrewsbury,  dowager  Mar- 
chioness in  1870,  died  in  1877. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON;  17 

Even  if  it  were,  we  should  leave  for  there  ;  how 
could  we  countermand  a  Rector  Magnificus  and  a 
luncheon  that  are  awaiting  us  ! 

Friday  Morning. 

Yesterday  the  day  was  superb  and  I  was  very 
busy.  Spent  an  hour  and  a  quarter  on  the  railway. 
The  English  landscape  opened  out  before  us  in  fine 
style — meadows,  the  Thames  level  with  its  banks, 
undulations  of  the  land  which  added  a  touch  of  the 
picturesque  (properly  speaking,  they  are  natural 
valleys  or  dells  rather),  lots  of  huge  old  trees, 
nobody  in  the  fields,  only  steam  engines  at  work,  and 
the  smoke  of  the  locomotives  rising  above  the 
farms,  and  coal  everywhere.  What  would  England 
be  without  the  coal  that  multiplies  her  population 
a  hundred-fold,  and  without  the  Straits  which 
guarantee  her  from  brigands?  At  intervals,  red 
houses.  Oxford !  How  it  had  snowed  !  The 
meadows  were  white,  but  as  the  sun  rose,  the  snow 
melted,  except  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees,  and  there 
was  a  singular  picture  of  all  the  trees  with  their 
bare  branches  outlined  in  white  against  the  green- 
sward hard  by.  But  don't  let's  lose  time.  We 
had  dropped  back  into  the  Middle  Ages.  You  might 
find  in  India,  perhaps,  a  sacred  village  that  had  as 
completely  preserved  its  peculiarities ;  the  colleges 
here  are  all  pious  foundations,  beginning  as  far  back 
as  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century-,  that  were 
surprised  by  the  Reformation,  which  secularized  and 
perpetuated  them — singular  mixture  of  the  spirit  of 
independence  and  of  conservatism  in  this  country. 
The  edifices  and  their  endowments  have  remained. 


i8  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

The  buildings  are  doing  all  they  can  to  hold  out  as 
long  as  the  institutions,  but  the  English  stone 
shales  off  fearfully — I  don*t  know  which  of  them 
will  be  the  first  to  go  under.  All  the  structures 
look  utterly  in  ruins,  which  does  no  harm  to  the 
picturesqueness  of  it  all  ;  ivy  climbs  everywhere,  mil- 
dew discolors  the  walls,  stones  are  lacking,  and  it  all 
works  together  to  lend  character  to  the  thing  and  to 
dissimulate  certain  commonplaces  and  vulgarities. 

The  total  effect  is  astonishing  ;  twenty  colleges 
in  a  town  of  no  great  importance,  and  nothing  but 
the  colleges,  chapel,  abbey,  gardens,  libraries,  halls 
and  their  out-buildings, — all  in  English  gothic, 
but  of  a  period  when  it  was  natural.  It  abounds 
in  charming  *  bits  *,  nothing  very  impressive  in 
height,  but  rather  in  surface,  and  it  stretches  on 
indefinitely — there  is  lots  of  it.  The  streets  are 
such  as  you  see  them  in  the  Middle  Ages  at  the 
theatre.  You  meet  nobody  in  them  but  Fellows  or 
Tutors  or  Rectors  or  Chancellors — there  are  titles 
no  end,  every  college  has  its  own,  and  the  only 
thing  that  obtains  throughout  is  the  little,  black, 
horizonal  square,  ill-balanced  on  the  top  of  their 
skull-caps.  This  original  head-dress  is  obligatory 
for  the  students,  even  after  dark,  so  that  one  may 
know  them  for  what  they  are  and  hand  them  over, 
in  case  of  disturbance,  to  the  University  authorities, 
to  whom  they  are  exclusively  responsible.  They 
don't  give  much  trouble,  however ;  first  because 
there  are  only  twelve  hundred  of  them,  (we  French 
would  put  up  twenty  thousand  at  Oxford)  ;  and  then 
they  are  of  good  family — it  takes  not  less  than  five 


1871.J  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  19 

or  six  thousand  francs  to  spend  six  months,  or  seven 
barely,  at  Oxford.  The  English  students  do  not 
need  one's  sympathy.  They  have  to  turn  up  at 
chapel  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  afterward 
there  are  lessons  till  two,  and  then — boating  for 
ever  !  Au  canot !  Everybody  goes  in  their  jackets 
to  the  Thames  and  the  races  begin ;  some  of  the 
students  are  on  horseback.  It  appears  that  there 
are,  all  told,  some  thirty  who  contend  for  honors  and 
fellowships ;  for  there  are  students*  colleges  and 
fellows'  colleges.  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  there  are 
five  canonries.  By  means  of  celibacy,  a  univer- 
sity degree,  and  the  favor  of  the  founder,  you  enjoy 
in  an  Oxford  college  a  good  prebend,  and  do  nothing 
for  it.  There  is  a  college  of  the  sort  in  which  you 
may  traverse  the  abbey,  the  park,  the  library,  and 
meet  nobody.  But  where  are  the  students  ?  There 
aren't  any !  There  are  two  Fellows,  simply  ;  and 
room  for  two  regiments.  For  the  rest,  at  New  Col- 
lege {new  though  great-grandfather  to  our  Pont- 
Neuf)  there  are  seventy  students.  I  should  have 
thought  there  would  be  a  thousand.  These  young 
people  live  here,  as  you  may  see,  in  a  somewhat 
liberal  style,  much  at  their  case,  with  all  the  inde- 
pendence possible,  as  much  expense  as  befits  them, 
and  space  to  let ;  every  one  of  them  is  somebody  and 
costs  his  family  and  the  public  dear. 

It  was  the  New  College  that  I  saw  best,  for  we 
went  back  there  to  lunch.  We  went,  according  to 
an  itinerary  laid  out  by  the  Dean  of  Westminster, 
(he  had  smoothed  the  way  for  us — had  sent  word 
we  were  coming),  from  college  to  college  and  from 


20  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

the  Rector  Magnificus  to  the  Librarian  or  the  Vice- 
Chancellor.  The  *  official  cap' of  the  New  College 
(I  really  do  not  know  the  title  of  this  benefactor  of 
humanity),  perceiving  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  was 
forgetting  to  invite  us  to  break  bread,  came  ''  to 
take  possession  of  us  again''  at  the  inhospitable  door 
of  this  personage,  and  shared  his  lunch  with  us — he 
had  come  away  in  the  middle  of  it  to  find  us.  It 
was  just  a  bit  rash  to  invite  four  famished  guests 
that  way  to  take  ^^  pot-luck  *' — I  was  no  end  hungry: 
— but  not  at  all,  there  was  enough  to  feed  a  platoon 
in  time  of  seige.  Our  benefactor  himself  helped  us 
to  plates,  glasses,  silver,  from  a  sideboard  :  '*  Will 
you  have  mutton,  veal,  beef,  some  ham?  ''  Stores 
truly  Homeric  ;  they  needed  only  to  be  carved. 
Then  there  was  a  great  cake,  equally  designed  for 
an  emergency,  and  capital  wath  cunim,  and  beer, 
and  sherry.  Our  hunger  was  satisfied  in  a  trice  ;  and 
we  went  aAvay  much  touched  by  such  simple,  "  can- 
onical ''  hospitality. 

But  a  truce  to  colleges :  we  took  a  carriage  and 
drove  in  the  cheery  cold  to  Blenheim  ^  ;  it  was  the 
castle  known  as  Woodstock  before  it  was  given  to 
the  greediest  of  vanquishers,  and  the  one  most  given 
to  pillage.  Still,  there  was  a  touch  of  Mars  about 
him.  The  first  glimpse  of  the  place  drew  from  us 
in  chorus  a  cry  of  admiration  :  lake,  meadows,  wood- 
lands, valleys — it  was  splendid.  I  hesitate  to 
speak  of  the  castle ;  it  is  immense,  and  in  the 
country,  at  a  distance,  is  most  effective  ;  but  in  pro- 
portion as  you  draw  near,  it  becomes  ridiculous, 
J  The  Q^stle  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough, 


1871].  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  2 1 

Still,  it  IS  as  big  as  a  palace  of  the  first  rank.  From 
all  the  windows,  a  view  worthy  of  Louis  XIV. ;  in- 
side, immense  halls  and  some  pictures  that  I  did 
not  have  the  time  to  examine  in  detail,  but  there 
was  a  Raphael,  in  his  earliest  manner,  the  Virgin  and 
Child  ^xiA  Two  Saints,  It  looked  to  me  quite  au- 
thentic and  very  beautiful.  We  had  to  beat  a  retreat 
without  carrying  it  off.  A  monument  to  the  mem- 
ory of  Marlborough  gave  me  a  mournful  reminder  of 
the  magnificent  monument  of  the  Mar^chal  de  Saxe 
at  Strasburg.  We  crossed  the  park,  putting  the 
roes  to  flight  and  chasing  the  hares  by  stamping 
on  the  ground.  The  crows  cawed  us  a  good-bye, 
and  we  went  back  to  Oxford  to  dine  in  the  mag- 
nificent hall  of  the  Randolph  Inn,  big  as  a  railway 
station.     At  midnight  we  went  to  bed. 

London,  March  19,  Sunday, 

Five  o'clock,  1871. 

Frightful  day  ;  we  only  have  a  word  from  Ponti- 
coulant.^  The  only  telegrams  that  have  passed 
seem  to  announce  that  there  has  been  a  battle  to- 
day.^ I  wanted  to  start  home  this  evening;  the  Due 
de  Broglie  detains  me,  not  knowing  whether  he  will 
not  himself  go  and  take  a  seat  in  the  Assembly. 
What  shall  we  do  ?  I  have  spent  my  day  with  the 
commandant,  Robert  Le  Fort,^  who  arrived  yester- 
day.    Shall  we  start   home  together  ?     Will  it  be 

1  Comte  de  Pontecoulant,  chief  of  the  cabinet  of  M.  Jules  Favre, 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

2  The  i8th  of  March,  the  sedition  began  at  Paris  that  was  to  be- 
come the  Commune. 

'^  His  Lordship  the  Due  de  Chartres, 


22  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

possible  to  get  to  you  ?  Still  another  great  torment 
has  been  reserved  for  me  :  to  know  that  you  are  in 
danger  and  to  be  hesitating  to  attempt  to  rejoin 
you.  I  can  only  commend  you  all  in  this  moment 
to  God.  George  is  with  you — it  is  my  sole  argument 
for  remaining  here. 

Extract0  from  tbe  1Rote0» 

On  the  morning  of  March  19th,  the  Due  de  Char, 
tres  came  to  find  me  and  to  ask  me,  what  the  Due 
de  Broglie  and  I  would  do,  if  the  day's  despatches 
should  confirm  those  of  the  night.  **  We  should 
start  home,'*  I  replied  ;  and  in  eflFect  the  Ambassa- 
dor and  I  were  on  our  way  across  the  Channel  the 
night  of  the  19th.  The  sea  was  absolutely  calm, 
but  the  fog  was  so  thick  that  the  captain  of  the  boat 
was  unable  to  find  his  way,  and  had  given  orders  to 
stop,  and  the  fog-horn  and  bell  were  sending  out 
signals  of  our  presence  across  the  darkness  of  the 
night  and  mist.  A  passenger  standing  on  the  bridge 
enveloped  in  furs,  came  to  me  and  let  drop  a  word 
in  my  ear,  and  then  disappeared  with  a  sign  not  to 
carry  recognition  further.  It  was  Robert  Le  Fort, 
who  was  returning  to  his  post. 

It  is  not  my  intention  here  to  pursue  him  on  that 
painful  voyage ;  I  have  spoken  of  him  only  to  set  in 
its  proper  light  a  generous  imprudence  of  this  prince, 
a  soldier  before  everything.  His  public  duty  ended 
with  the  war  with  Germany  ;  the  most  evident 
political  considerations  united  with  the  gentle  in- 
clinations of  his  own  heart,  as  a  father  and  a  husband, 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  23 

to  command  him  to  remain  by  his  own  dear  and 
charming  fireside.  Nevertheless  he  left  home,  and 
it  took  the  pressing  entreaties,  nay,  the  injunc- 
tions even,  of  his  friends  to  make  him  return  to  Eng- 
land. I  say  it  knowingly,  for  it  was  upon  me  that 
the  storm  burst  when  I  came  to  announce  to  MM. 
d'Haussonville  and  Bocher  that  the  Due  de  Chartres 
was  waiting  in  a  retreat,  to  me  unknown,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Versailles,  for  their  advice  on  what 
there  was  for  him  to  do.  The  Prince  on  starting 
back  to  England  wrote  me  the  following  letter : 

Manteo,  March  24,  1871. 
"  Dear  Sir,— 

"  The  telegraph  has  brought  me  nothing.  Your 
note  of  Tuesday  evening  reached  me  this  morning. 
I  obey  and  shall  be  to-morrow  with  my  wife.  I  give 
over  all  my  projects — abandon  the  measures  I  "was 
taking  to  get  into  the  ranks  of  the  National  Guard  for 
the  preservation  of  order.  The  moment  I  ran  the 
risk  of  hindering  ulterio'r  views,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  me  to  do  but  to  bow  submission.  For  the 
rest,  do  not  believe  that  I  am  indulging  in  self-pity ; 
no  true  Frenchman,  no  generous  heart,  no  officer 
who  still  preserves  the  sentiment  of  honor,  finds 
time  to-day  to  think  of  himself — the  frightful  state 
in  which  he  sees  his  country  is  enough  to  poison  all 
the  time  he  can  consecrate  to  reflection,  to  embitter 
his  repose,  to  deprive  the  pastoral  life  I  am  going  to 
lead  of  all  its  charm. 

**The  experience  of  the  five  days  I  have  just 
spent  in  walking  hereabouts  and  in  the  environs  of 


24  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

Paris,  convinces  me  that  personally  I  may  do  as  I 
please ;  and  it  is  only  my  respect  for  the  advice  of 
my  friends  that  induces  me  to  leave,  and  to  break 
the  chain  so  laboriously  forged  six  months  ago  be- 
tween my  country  and  myself.  I  remain,  however, 
always  at  their  disposition.  I  possess  the  means  to 
be  of  service ;  and  if  I  am  ever  notified  that  it 
seems  advisable  for  me  to  take  part  in  the  struggle, 
six  days  afterv/ards  I  shall  be  at  a  post  of  danger  and 
in  a  uniform  this  time  that  shall  be  above  suspicion. 
"  Pardon  me  for  having  again  spoken  to  you 
about  myself.  Thanks  for  your  having  taken  the 
trouble  to  write  to  me.  Have  the  kindness  to  ac- 
cept the  assurance  of  my  sincere  friendship.*' 

I  set  down  also  what  I  recollect  of  my  impressions 
on  arriving  at  Versailles.  All,  or  almost  all,  of  what 
constituted  for  the  time  being  the  government  of 
France,  had  been  gathered  together  at  the  Hotel  des 
Reservoirs  about  the  endless  long  tables,  where  every 
one  was  left  to  get  a  seat  when  and  how  he  might, 
in  the  strangest  pell-mell  of  deputies,  generals,  minis- 
ters, and  fashionable  women.  These  last  gave  the 
tone  to  the  assembly.  The  members  laughed,  joked, 
cried,  were  witty,  drank,  with  the  utmost  vivacity. 
Nothing  looked  less  like  the  sorry  expedient  of  a  raft 
after  the  shipwreck.  I  thought  in  spite  of  myself  of 
those  gay  prisons  in  which  the  noblest  blood  of 
France  once  waited,  at  the  time  of  the  Convention, 
its  summons  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  here  into  the  de- 
tails of  my  sojourn,  divided,  as  it  was,  between  Ver- 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOJt^.  ig 

sailles,  Paris,  and  Courbevoie,  from  the  20th  of 
March  to  the  2d  of  April.  I  make  a  note  only  of 
the  departure  of  my  family  from  Paris.  It  was  the 
day  after  the  massacre  at  the  Place  Vendome  ;  I 
could  hesitate  no  longer,  I  had  to  have  done  with 
it.  A  passage  for  carriages  still  remained  open 
across  the  barricade  of  the  Maillot  gate.  My  poor 
father,  quite  ill  already,  got  through  in  the  Victoria 
that  M.  d'Haussonville  had  forgotten  to  remove 
from  Paris,  and  that  I,  most  happily  for  the  owner, 
remorselessly  requisitioned.  That  was  the  word  and 
the  custom  at  the  time.  I  had  requisitioned  in  the 
same  way  at  Versailles  my  friend  Eydin's  house,  in 
which  I  put  up  my  family,  and  the  Due  de  Broglie 
and  some  of  his  people. 

I  had  counted  on  having  my  family  rest  a  bit  at 
Courbevoie,  at  the  house  of  our  respected  friend 
Mme.  Laruse,  before  going  on  to  Versailles ;  but 
their  repose  was  troubled  by  the  occupation  of  the 
communists.  I  had  the  next  day  to  organize  a 
fresh  elopement.  I  reached  Versailles  this  time 
with  the  coup^  of  another  friend,  M.  Hennequin. 
As  I  was  passing  in  front  of  the  Communist  post 
established  at  the  head  of  the  Neuilly  bridge,  cer- 
tain street-arabs  called :  ^^  Duck  him  !  *'  and  I 
might  well  in  effect  have  finished  my  journey  in  the 
Seine,  if  I  had  not  by  a  happy  inspiration  inquired 
my  way  (which  I  knew  quite  well),  of  the  very  per- 
son who  seemed  to  me  most  ill-disposed.  He  be- 
came markedly  polite  and  showed  the  coachman  the 
way,  and  nobody  after  that  thought  of  stopping  us. 
The  sorry  garrison  of  Courbevoie  passed  its  night  in 


26  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

beating  the  call  to  arms,  in  sounding  the  alarm,  and, 
above  all,  in  imbibing.  By  daylight  they  were  all 
knocked  up  with  lack  of  sleep  and  the  drink,  and 
my  family  effected  its  departure  without  difficulty. 
Our  joy  was  great,  however,  when  we  reached  the 
first  advanced  sentinel  of  the  Versailles  forces,  a 
municipal  guard,  between  Puteaux  and  Saint- 
Cloud. 

On  the  score  of  historical  information,  I  note  here 
the  feeling  of  complete  security  that  the  officers  of 
the  band  which  was  occupying  Courbevoie  dis- 
played in  relation  to  Mt.  Valerien.  When  I  called 
their  attention  to  the  fact  that  they  were  exposed 
to  the  fire  of  its  cannon,  they  replied  that  they  had 
a  secret  understanding  with  Mt.  Valerien. 


The  Due  de  Broglie,  being  unable  to  leave  again 
for  London  immediately,  it  was  decided  that  I  should 
precede  him  to  assume  the  duties  of  the  Embassy, 
and  I  left  accordingly,  the  first  of  April,  with  letters 
accrediting  me  as  Charge  d'Affairs. 

I  quitted  Versailles  early  in  the  morning  with  the 
first  of  the  reorganized  regiments,  who  were  going, 
the  next  day,  to  open  fire  on  the  communists  at 
Asnieres  and  Courbevoie,  under  the  command  of 
Gen.  Montaudon.  I  had  to  pass  by  Saint-Germain 
and  Pontoise,  skirting  the  district  visited  by  the 
shells  of  the  insurgents,  to  gain  Creil.  On  the 
third  I  arrived  at  London. 

From  the  beginning  of  April  on,  till  the  last  days 
of  1 871,  I  was  almost  constantly  in  charge  of  the 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  27 

Embassy,  except  during  the  short  trips  that  the 
Due  de  Broghe  took  to  London  in  March,  May, 
July,  and  November.  Confined  as  I  had  up  to  that 
time  been  to  the  offices  and  special  duties  of  the 
direction  of  commerce  in  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  I  made  my  debut  at  one-and-the-same  time 
in  the  position  of  representative  of  France  abroad 
and  in  the  management  of  political  affairs.  Pos- 
sessed myself  of  nothing  that  could  give  me  noto- 
riety as  a  diplomatist,  or  that  could  supply  the  lack 
of  it,  I  found  myself  in  addition  called  upon  to  rep^ 
resent  a  nation,  vanquished,  crushed,  whose  very  ex- 
istence had  become  a  problem — a  government  over- 
whelmed by  the  disasters  and  charges  of  the  war 
and  the  invasion,  and  by  the  horrors  of  the  most 
shameful  civil  war. 

The  English  were  much  disposed  to  take  pity  on 
us.  They  showed  us  the  measure  of  their  sympathy 
in  sending  succor  and  provisions  to  the  famished 
in  Paris  and  in  the  districts  left  desolate  by  the  war. 
The  government  had  associated  itself  with  this 
movement  by  the  timid  observations  it  had  made 
to  the  vanquishers  on  the  figure  of  the  ransom  they 
were  exacting  from  us.  But  nobody  was  at  that 
time  tempted  to  go  further  in  the  imprudent  step 
of  compassion.  Fear  of  Germany  ruled  the  situa- 
tion ;  people  lowered  their  voices  when  they  spoke 
Bismarck's  name  ;  and  they  had  even  gone  the  length 
of  convincing  themselves,  by  the  logic  of  hope,  that 
he  would  re-establish  the  equilibrium  of  Europe. 

The  bloody  convulsions  at  Paris  continually  dis- 
turbed our  neighbors,  a  little  on  their  own  account, 


28  A  DIPLOMAT  m  LONDON,  [1871. 

because  of  the  example ;  also,  they  were  frankly 
eager  to  see  the  struggle  come  to  an  end,  and  they 
could  imagine  no  more  expeditious  device  for  re- 
establishing order  in  France  than  the  restoration  of 
the  Emperor,  (who  had  again  become  their  guest), 
by  the  aid  of  the  Germans  encamped  about  Paris 
and  dominating  the  city  by  means  of  the  forts  they 
were  occupying.  They  had  no  scruples  against  con- 
demning us  to  this  supreme  degradation.  They 
were  full  of  contempt  indeed  for  the  Imperial  Regime, 
but  they  were  none  the  less  so  for  the  Dictatorship 
at  Tours  or  Bordeaux ;  and  they  made  no  conceal- 
ment of  the  fact  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  people  of 
the  Imperial  Plebiscites  and  of  the  Revolution  of 
the  4th  of  September  had  no  right  to  show  them- 
selves difficult  upon  the  character  of  their  govern- 
ment. If  they  wished  us  a  return  of  the  Empire,  it 
was  simply  that  they  did  not  deem  us  worthy  of 
liberty  nor  capable  of  bearing  the  weight  of  it. 

Hence  arose  the  great  popularity  of  Napoleon 
III,  when  after  his  defeat  at  Sedan  he  arrived  in 
England.  The  crowd  pressed  about  his  path  to 
give  him  an  ovation  ;  the  police  had  been  obliged  to 
step  in  to  protect  the  railings  about  his  residence 
at  Chislehurst  against  the  invasion  of  his  enthu- 
siastic partisans.  The  Queen  set  the  example,  she 
had  been  the  first  to  render,  by  her  cordial  visits,  a 
public  homage  to  the  misfortunes  of  a  Sovereign, 
whose  hospitality  she  had  accepted.  The  English 
princes,  the  diplomatic  corps,  vied  with  one  another 
in  external  evidences  of  respect  and  deference.  Of 
course  the  favor  with  which  he  was  received  was  not 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  i^ 

all  intended  for  the  Emperor  personally,  nor  as  ap- 
proval of  his  administration  ;  to  a  great  many  naive 
people,  he  still  stood  for  France,  and  they  thought 
they  were  paying  homage  to  our  misfortunes  by 
saluting  the  author  of  them  or  by  receiving  him 
with  acclamations.  I  received  the  proof  of  it  sub- 
sequently, when  the  more  or  less  official  bands  played 
the^^Jeune  et  beau  Dunois  "  as  an  honor  to  the 
representatives  of  the  Republic.  The  unreflecting 
infatuation  of  England  for  every  sort  of  novelty 
must  also  be  taken  into  account ;  glory  (like  shame) 
moves  the  mob.  Notoriety  of  any  kind  is  welcome 
there,  is  at  a  premium.  The  English  are  the  great- 
est "  flats  '*  on  earth. 

Perpetually,  on  my  arrival  in  England,  France 
for  the  English,  even  for  the  English  government, 
lay  rather  at  Chislehurst  than  elsewhere,  and  her 
official  representative  was  still  the  Marquis  de  la 
Valette  rather  than  my  quite  obscure  and  wretched 
self.  This  notion  was  also  shared  by  the  greater 
part  of  the  agents,  the  Empire  had  nominated,  and 
I  found  traces  of  it  even  at  the  Embassy,  where  I 
found  a  good  many  other  things  to  set  to  rights. 

First  there  were  the  expenses  that,  by  virtue  of 
powers  more  or  less  regular  given  during  the  war, 
had  under  all  the  various  administrations  been  in- 
curred in  the  name  of  public  safety.  I  had  to  put 
a  stop  to  them,  and  to  take  steps,  while  there  was 
still  time,  for  auditing  and  allowing  such  payments 
as  had  been  already  made.  The  Embassy,  taken 
by  surprise,  had  patriotically  accepted,  under  the 
pressure   of   necessity,    the   burden  of   accounts   it 


30  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [187 1. 

was  in  no  wise  prepared  for,  nor  able  to  determine 
the  extent  of  in  advance ;  but  the  war  once  at  an 
end,  it  was  necessary  to  return  as  quickly  as  might 
be  to  the  beaten  road.  The  concurrence  of  my 
comrades  was  not  wanting  to  me  ;  but  the  task  was 
not  the  less  heavy.  Actions  at  law,  the  issue  of 
which  justified  the  promptitude  of  the  measures 
taken  on,  the  first  days  of  my  arrival  put  an  end 
later  to  this  painful  liquidation. 


Extracts  trom  tbe  Correspondence^ 

London,  Friday,  April  6,  1871. 

The  newspapers  which  come  in  as  I  write  inform 
me  of  the  beginning  of  the  pillage  in  Paris,  of  the 
sacking  of  our  churches,  of  the  arrest  of  our  dear 
cur^.^  There  is  a  general  outcry  here  against  the 
temporizing  policy  of  M.  Thiers,  who  is  going  to 
permit  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood  to  avoid 
shedding  guilty,  and  to  avoid  remaining  face  to  face 
with  a  majority  in  the  Chamber  and  with  indignant 
France.  I  prefer  to  believe  that  he  is  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  fresh  troops,  but  the  suspense  is  horrible, 
and  the  satisfaction  I  experience  in  thinking  that  I 
rescued  you  from  that  vortex  of  crime  does  not 
render  me  indifferent  to  the  dangers  of  those  who 
have  had  to  remain  behind.  .  .  .  Our  dear  cur6, 
first :  it  is  true,  that  personally  he  would  not  be 
sorry  to  suffer  martyrdom  at  a  time  when  the  cross 
is  trampled  under  foot. 

1  The  Abbe  Deguerry,  cure  of  the  Madeleine. 


l87i.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  jl 

Would  you  believe  that  the  Prince  de  Joinville, 
some  days  ago,  just  missed  waking  up  in  Paris  ? 
He  had  fallen  asleep  and  passed  unaware  the  last 
stop  before  the  Saint-Lazare  Station,  and  he  had  to 
jump  off  while  the  train  was  going. 

I  am  taking  lessons  in  speaking  English.  Their 
talk  goes  like  an  express  train  ;  there  are  twenty 
carriages  and  you  see  but  one.  It  isn't  easy  to 
catch,  on  the  wing. 

London,  April  8,  1871. 

Yesterday  I  exchanged  a  few  words  with  the 
Directors  of  the  Foreign  Office  and  the  Foreign 
Ministers.  The  meetings  are  sufficiently  curious ; 
everybody  keeps  a  hand  on  himself  and  is  on  the 
qui'Vive.  Either  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  or  I  left 
them  convinced  that  they  had  a  rather  capable  youth 
to  deal  with.  The  Turk,  to  whom  no  doubt  some- 
body has  said  something  or  other  about  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Embassy  with  Twickenham,  made  me 
an  Orleanist  profession  of  faith.  I  seized  the  occa- 
sion to  say  :  **  God  save  the  Princes  from  such  a 
burden  in  a  time  like  this.  I  love  them  personally 
too  much  to  hope  it  for  them  for  the  rest,  it  is 
only  the  Republic  that  is  equal  to  the  days  of  June 
in  1848,  or  the  siege  of  Paris  in  1871." 

This  game  of  chess  that  one  has  to  play  every  day 
is  amusing  enough  at  first.  It  will  be  an  odd  passage 
in  my  life.  If  I  did  not  know  you  are  at  Versailles, 
what  trouble  I  should  be  in ! 

April  18,  1871. 
I  have  received  from  the  Comte  de  Paris  a  letter 


32  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

felicitating  me  on  the  great  success  obtained  by  my 
chief :  ^  "  They  have  found  in  him  at  last  a  political 
orator.  I  rejoice  in  it  sincerely.  I  rejoice  in  it 
the  more  that  I  was  fearing  this  debut  of  his  which 
had  to  be  brilliant  to  meet  the  general  expectation. 
It  was  perfect,  and  I  am  especially  happy  to  see  him 
attach  his  name  to  a  liberal  measure  adopted  under 
such  circumstances.  It  is  altogether  a  new  thing  in 
our  parliamentary  history,  and  gives  me  great  hope. 
I  took  pains  to  show  myself  at  a  rout  given  by 
the  Lord  Mayor  at  the  Mansion  House.  In  spite 
of  the  rigor  of  the  times  and  of  the  humility  com- 
manded us,  I  took  some  satisfaction  in  representing 
my  unhappy  country  at  the  palace  of  the  city.  It 
is  a  fine  hall  with  Corinthian  columns  and  Gothic 
windows ;  the  band  of  the  Parisian  Guards,  which 
took  refuge  in  London  after  the  cataclysm  of  the 
1 8th,  was  there  ;  also  the  Lord  Mayor  and  the 
Sheriff  with  their  bands,  the  gold-plate  that  has 
never  been  pillaged,  lots  of  bare-headed  Englishmen, 
and  Englishwomen  in  dresses  with  trains.  I  made 
my  entry  with  a  number  of  **  Very-glad's  '*  and  of 
hand-shakings  with  the  Lord  Mayor,  with  his  wife, 
with  his  daughters,  with  whatever  presented  itself  ; 
Franqueville  was  doing  the  honors  of  my  person. 
Lesseps  turned  up  there  quite  a-propos  to  supply  me 
with  a  comic  incident.  He  took  me  for  somebody 
else  and  led  me  to  his  wife.  She  was  a  bit  surprised 
at  first,  and  then  grew  voluble  in  admiration  of  my 

^  The  Due  de  Broglie,  who  reported  a  law  on  the  offenses  of  the 
Press,  had  spoken  on  the  14th  of  April  in  favor  of  an  amendment 
giving  the  law  a  more  liberal  construction. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  33 

beard,  which  had  made  me  look  strange  to  her.  I 
replied  that  it  was  the  siege  that  had  made  it  grow, 
and  this  remark  finally  dissipated  her  remaining 
doubts.  After  some  time,  Lesseps,  who  began  to 
suspect  something,  rejoined  me  and  to  repair  his 
error  asked  me  if  I  was  with  Mme  X.  For  shame  ! 
I  told  Mme.  de  Stael  the  story  and  she  laughed 
heartily. 

Decidedly,  Montaudon  ^  has  made  a  hit. 

The  London  journals  are  asking  me  for  his  por- 
trait and  for  a  note  on  him.  He  is  the  hero  of  the 
day.  Things  have  gone  off  on  another  tack  here  : 
"  To  the  block  with  the  insurgents.**  They  are 
vanquished !  I  greatly  hope  their  account  will  be 
settled,  sword-in-hand.  It  is  too  late  to  admit  a 
capitulation.     They  have  got  to  be  punished. 

London,  April  21,  1871. 

In  the  morning,  toward  six  o'clock,  1  come  down 
the  stairway,  to  the  great  scandal  of  all  the  house- 
maids who  are  squatting  on  the  steps  or  before  the 
fireplace  which  they  are  polishing. 

They  all  flee  at  sight  of  me,  like  frogs  that  leap  into 
the  water.  The  sense  of  inferiority  in  the  women  in 
service,  their  humility  not  only  in  the  presence  of  their 
master  but  before  all  the  males  of  the  household,  is 
one  of  the  things  that  shock  me  the  most.  I 
arrive  at  the  office  of  the  Duke  with  the  great  oak 
wardrobes  all  about  it,  a  sort  of  sombre  hall  with 
two   big  windows,  in   front  of  which  the  amazons 

1  General  Montaudon,  afterwards  commander  of  au  a.nny  corps 
and  a  Deputy, 

3 


34  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

defile  at  a  hand-gallop  from  nine  o'clock  on,  and  the 

Horse  Guards  pass  and  repass,  and  the  Grenadiers, 

also,  dressed  in  white  like  scullions,  with  two  pibrochs. 

It  all  goes  on  at  the  sky-line,  almost  above  the  line 

of  vision,  as  in  an  aquarium.     At  eight  o'clock  the 

journals  come;  at  half-past  eight,  the  courier  and 

your  letter:  it  is  the  best  minute  of  the  day.     Hour 

after  hour  the  telegrams  come  in  ;  when  they  relate 

to  Jules  Favre,  my  interest  redoubles;  and  then  the 

personnel,  the  visits,  and  the  close  of  office-hours. 

To-morrow  I  dine,  the  only  one  of  my  tribe,  at 

Lord   Granville's.^     If    my   neighbors   only    speak 

French  !     This  same  Granville  played  me  a  trick 

yesterday  that  might  have  given  me  trouble.     At 

noon  he  sent  the  Duke  word  to  come  to  him  at 

three  o'clock  to  exchange   the  ratifications  of  the 

agreement  about  the  Black  Sea.     I  replied  to  the 

bearer,  by  a  note  scribbled  at  the  corner  of  a  table, 

that  the   Duke  was  absent,  etc.     That  evening  the 

protocol  reached  me  with  my  note  inserted  at  full 

length.     I  do  not  know  what  effect  it  will  produce 

in   Europe,   but,    for    myself,    it    turned   me   cold. 

Happily  it  is  all  right. 

London,  April  24,  1871. 

Yesterday  I  dined  at  Lord  Granville's — a  fine 
house,  really  elegant,  and  what  is  still  better,  a 
charming  wife,*^  very  beautiful,  very  fashionable, 
speaking  French  with  a  bit  of  an  accent,  just  enough 
to  lend  color  to  her  words.     I  was  presented  to  all 

1  L.  Leveson  Gower,  Earl  Granville,  born  in  181 5,  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  ;  he  died  in  1891. 

2  Castalia  Cambello,  second  wife  of  Lord  Granville. 


18; I.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  35 

the  guests  one  after  another ; — impossible  to  catch 
the  name  of  any  of  them.  They  all  talked  French 
more  or  less  :  I  was  humiliated  not  to  be  able  to 
return  them  a  word  in  their  own  tongue.  We  seated 
ourselves  at  table  and  I  found  myself  on  the  right 
of  Lady  Granville;  I  am  not  yet  up  to  so  much 
honor.  The  dinner  was  good,  with  some  oddities, 
such  as  a  dish  of  cheese  to  finish  with  after  the  ice- 
cream. At  dessert,  the  ladies  rose  ;  I  got  ready  to 
follow  my  beautiful  neighbor;  but  not  at  all — I  had 
to  stay  where  I  was  and  help  pass  and  repass  two 
small  decanters  of  wine  which  were  making  the 
round  of  the  table.  That  lasted  happily  but  a  half- 
hour,  and  at  ten  o'clock  we  entered  the  salon. 

Had  some  good  chat  with  Brunnow.^  **  England 
likes  you.'*  "  She  believes  that  we  shall  last  more 
than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,"  I  replied.  Some  days 
before  he  had  said  to  me,  "  England  will  be  well 
disposed    toward    you,    if    you   last   more   than   a 

quarter  of  an  hour.** 

London,  May  18,  1871. 

I  joined  the  Due  de  Broglie  at  the  Rothschilds*.^ 
Magnificent  place ;  here  is  gold  well  laid  out,  a 
luxury  of  high  good  taste.  First,  the  stairway, 
with  three  rows  of  columns,  a  spacious  structure, 
with  the  light  falling  from  above,  all  that  could  be 
desired  by  a  Guardi,  and  flowers,  such  as  I  had 
never  dreamed  of.  A  fine  square  brings  you  to  a 
salon,  which  is  somehow  horribly  sterling  and   ex- 

1  Baron  de  Brunnow,  Ambassador  of  Russia,  died  in  1875. 

2  Lionel,  Baron  Rothschild,  head  of  the  Banking-house,  died  in 

1879. 


36  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

quisite,  with  old  French  hangings,  i8th  century 
embroidered  silk,  and  some  **  old  masters*,  Del  Sarto, 
Murillo,  Greuze,  just  enough  to  decorate  the  place 
without  converting  it  into  a  gallery,  all  very  com- 
fortable. There  were  some  ladies  present :  Mme. 
Alphonse,^  a  beauty  of  an  odd  sort,  something  of  the 
race  of  Jacob  in  it ;  the  Duchess  of  Manchester,^  a 
beauty  of  the  sort  that  is  conventional  in  courts 
that  go  in  for  amusement ;  the  beautiful  Lady  Gran- 
ville ;  the  Countess  de  Flandre,^  quite  royal — if  you 
knew  Latin,  I  should  say,  Incessu  patuit  dea  ;  she  is 
no  bigger  than  she  should  be,  but  she  does  not  make 
herself  small.  Those  were  the  beauties  in  the  salon. 
Add  to  these,  the  Baroness,*  and  her  husband  in  a 
chair  on  rollers.  Well,  I  succeeded  somehow  in 
saluting  each  of  them ;  the  Duke  has  given  me  his 
perch  with  a  vengeance. 

Guided  by  the  Postmaster-General,^  we  visited 
together  the  central  telegraph  office  :  there  we  found 
five  hundred  young  girls,  who  had  all  of  them  read 
their  novel  that  morning  and  made  their  tea — they 
did  not  belong  to  the  laboring  class.  They  were 
transmitting  messages  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
world  with  movements  of  feverish  trepidation,  talk- 
ing the  while.  It  is  a  market-place  for  words.  We 
were  accompanied  in  our  visit  by  a  small  man,  very 

1  Baroness  Rothschild,  daughter  of  Lionel. 

2  Louise,  Countess  d'Alten,  married  in  1852  to  the  Duke  of  Man- 
chester, and  remarried  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire. 

^  Marie,   Princess  of   Hohenzollem,   married  to   the    Comte   de 
Flandre. 
*  Baroness  Rothschild,  died  in  18S4. 
^  William  Monsell,  created  Lord  Emly  in  1874. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  37 

simple,  a  bit  pock-marked,  lame,  looking  more  like 
the  descendant  of  some  clergyman  than  the  repre- 
sentative of  an  illustrious  stock.  He  is  the  last  off- 
shoot of  the  Dukes  of  Norfolk.^ 

London,  May  19,  1871. 

We  have  organized  our  ceremony  for  Saint- 
Cloud.2  Gounod  has  arrived  with  the  Cur6.  He  is 
a  queer  chap,  always  half  up  in  the  clouds.  We 
shall  have  a  sermon,  chanted  prayers,  a  con- 
cert, a  description  of  the  ruins.  This  morning  I 
obtained  a  permit  from  the  Archbishop^ — fine 
head,  grand  air,  ascetic  and  highbred  face  ;  he  quite 
charmed  me.  .  .  . 

I  saw  the  Queen  in  her  carriage — the  Scotch- 
man Brown  on  the  box.  She  was  going  to  the  new 
colossal  statue  of  Prince  Albert,  the  statue  that 
was  chosen  from  among  all  the  rest.  The  Prince 
must  be  greatly  embarrassed  by  his  pedestal, 
for  he  was  a  man  conime  il  faut — and  embar- 
rassed still  more  by  the  temple  they  are  raising 
to  him,  facing  Albert  Hall — temple,  kiosque,  pagoda, 
Byzantine  phantasy.  It  is  enough  to  make  Wel- 
lington jealous — he  has  only  two  statues,  the  one 
with  a  three-cornered  hat,  and  another  at  the  op- 
posite end  of  the  park,  with  nothing  on  but  a  sword. 

At  the  same  time  the  national  liquidation  goes  its 

1  Fifteenth  Duke  of  Norfolk,  H.  Fitz  Alan  Howard,  First  Duke  of 
England,  hereditary  Earl  Marshal,  born  in  1847. 

2  Benefit  concert  to  assist  the  cure  of  the  town  of  Saint-Cloud, 
burned  in  1871. 

2  Henry  Edward  Manning,  Archbishop  of  Westminster  in  i86j  ; 
cardinal  in  1875,  ^^^^  ^^  \^^2, 


38  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1871 

way ;  the  ministry  is  nothing  but  a  syndicate  ;  it  is 
unsettHng  everything.  Some  days  since,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone did  not  conceal  his  sympathy  for  worhan's 
franchise ;  then,  another  minister  almost  gives  over 
the  Established  Church.  They  are  pulling  up  the 
piles,  one  after  the  other,  from  under  the  great  island. 

Extracts  from  tbe  1Flote6# 

While  I  was  fencing  with  all  these  difficulties,  the 
bloody  struggle  was  going  on  at  Paris  and  lengthen- 
ing out,  keeping  me  in  an  anguish  that  displayed 
itself  in  those  about  me  by  a  veritable  "  every-fellow- 
for-himself.*'  The  Due  de  Broglie  came  to  relieve  me 
toward  the  end  of  April ;  he  brought  me,  along  with 
his  own  approbation,  the  most  explicit  testimonials 
of  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  government.  The 
time  did  not  lend  itself  to  the  dry  restraint  of 
regular  diplomacy.  Dating  from  the  first  steps  that 
I  made,  M.  Thiers  and  M.  Jules  Favre  had  felt  in 
my  measures  and  my  language  a  breath  of  patriotism 
that  belonged  to  the  occasion. 

The  Duke  was  not  to  remain  long  in  London. 
The  6th  of  May,  I  was  charged  with  the  painful 
duty  of  announcing  to  him  that  his  son  had  been 
wounded  before  Paris.  It  was  soon  no  longer  pos- 
sible to  hide  the  gravity  of  the  case  from  him,  and 
he  decided  to  leave  at  once  for  Versailles,  the  20th 
of  May.  His  departure  was  even  so  precipitate 
that  he  excused  himself  from  assisting  that  day  at  the 
official  banquet  at  the  Foreign  Office  on  the  Queen's 
birthday.      As    it   was    indispensable   that    France 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  39 

should  be  represented  there,  I  had  to  present  my- 
self, rigged  out  in  the  Due  de  Broglie's  uniform. 
The  same  carriage  took  us,  me  to  the  palace  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  Whitehall,  and  him  to  Charing 
Cross  Station.  He  was  much  depressed,  and  I 
scarcely  less  so.  I  needed  all  my  courage  to  face 
for  the  first  time,  and  under  such  circumstances  and 
in  such  a  garb,  the  eyes  of  the  diplomatic  corps. 

I  had  till  then  avoided  mingling  with  society  more 
or  less  official ;  I  had  held  myself  apart,  waiting 
till  I  should  have  something  other  than  condolences 
to  gain  by  coming  forward.  This  reserve,  which 
was  abundantly  justified  by  the  state  of  my  father's 
health  and  the  loss  it  menaced  me  with,  did  not 
obstruct  my  introduction  into  the  world  of  fashion, 
in  which  I  was  slowly  to  win  my  place.  A 
representative  in  mourning  befitted  a  France  in 
mourning  for  two  provinces  and  for  the  pick  and 
choice  of  her  children. 

Never  did  the  feeling  of  my  isolation,  of  my  im- 
potence, of  my  insufficiency,  weigh  more  heavily 
upon  me  than  when  I  presented  myself  at  the 
Foreign  Office  to  confer  with  Lord  Granville.  For- 
eigners had  lost  all  shame,  some  of  them  in  the 
arrogance  of  parvenues,  the  rest  in  their  abasement 
before  the  stronger.  I  remember  the  bitter  reflection 
that  rose  in  me,  while  I  was  waiting  my  turn  for  an 
audience  in  a  room  that  opened  on  the  inner  court 
of  the  Foreign  Office.  The  clock  which  was  sound- 
ing, with  a  pitiless  vibration,  the  hours,  the  halves, 
the  quarters,  seemed  to  me  the  voice  of  destiny 
crying  to  me :  Room  for  the  sound  of  limb — woe  to 


40  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

the  vanquished  !  Room  for  the  nations  who  know 
how  to  control  themselves — woe  to  the  peoples 
touched  with  madness !  .  .  . 


Extracts  trom  tbe  CorreeponDencc* 

London,  May  21,  1871: 

Sunday  Evening. 

.  .  .  At  seven  o'clock  we  received  Roger's  ^  tele- 
gram announcing  the  entrance  of  our  troops  into 
Paris.  Madame  de  Stael  excused  me,  that  I  might 
go  and  announce  the  good  news  to  the  princes,  who 
all  gather  on  Sunday  at  the  house  of  the  Comte  de 
Paris.  Whip  up,  driver!  .  .  .  Everybody  Avas 
there — a  little  surprised  at  my  arrival.  I  gave  them 
some  better  news  of  the  Due  de  Broglie's  son,  and 
handed  the  Comte  de  Paris  the  telegram  in  its 
envelope.  The  Comte  read  it.  Imagine  the  sensa- 
tion ! — the  messenger  from  Marathon  was  not  better 
received  ;  they  wanted  to  hug  me,  and  for  my  part 
they  might  have  had  their  way,  provided  I  did  not 
have  to  begin  with  the  aged  Princesse  de  Salerne. 

But  to  return  to  the  Duke's  departure.  He  left 
me  in  my  harlequin's  disguise  at  the  door  of  the 
Foreign  Office ;  I  begin  by  reassuring  you — I  was 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  lot !  That  is  small  praise, 
it  is  true,  to  the  others ;  but  can  you  conceive  me 
rigged  out  like  that  in  the  midst  of  sixty  diplomats 
and  high  dignitaries  all  of  whom  I  should  have 
known?     Lord  Granville  only  half  listened  to  me; 

1  Comte  de  Pontecoulant,  chief  of  the  cabinet  of  M«  Jules  Favre. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  4! 

Odo  Russell,^  a  German  rather  than  a  Frenchman,  had 
to  accept  me  as  his  neighbor  at  table ;  farther  off  sat 
Hamilton  Seymour,  the  shrewd  diplomat  who  saw 
through  Nicholas'  game  in  1854.  Course  succeeded 
course,  the  service  all  of  silver,  to  the  perpetual 
accompaniment  of  the  military  band.  At  dessert 
they  drank  the  most  frigidly  comic  toast  in  the 
world  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen.  The  ministry 
replied  by  a  toast  to  the  sovereigns  and  official  heads 
of  the  friendly  states  and  allies  who  were  then  and 
there  so  worthily  represented.  They  drank  once 
more,  but  the  wine  elicited  nothing  spirituelle  from 
out  of  all  those  uniforms.  After  the  wine  I  waylaid 
my  friend  Brunnow  in  his  silver  coat ;  I  took  him 
up  at  the  word  when  he  offered  to  lend  me  a  hand ; 
I  begged  him  to  present  me  to  the  score  or  so  of 
ministers  and  ambassadors  whom  I  had  not  met. 
We  began  with  Bernstorff,^  who  wears  the  paternal 
air  of  a  good  German:  I  had  to  tell  him  how  the 
Duke's  son  had  been  wounded ;  when  he  learned 
that  it  was  done  by  the  insurgents,  he  cried  out 
with  what  was  intended  for  politeness ;  **  I  am  glad 
it  was  not  done  by  us.'*  I  made  the  round  of  a 
dozen  embroidered  coats  with  the  same  story. 

Lady  Granville  arrived,  gracious  and  beautiful  as 
always,  and  then  the  mob  poured  in.  Toward  half- 
past  eleven.  Prince  Ladislas  ^  and  I  fled  while  the 


1  Odo  Russell,  Ambassador  to  Germany,  made  Lord  Ampthill,  in 
1 88 1,  died  in  1884. 

*  Count  Bernstorff,  Ambassador  of  Germany,  died  in  1873. 

^  Prince  L.  Czartorisky,  bom  in  1828,  married  to  the  Princesse 
Marguerite,  daughter  of  the  Due  de  Nemours,  died  in  1894. 


42  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

band  was  heralding  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  a  God 

Save  the  Queen. 

London,  May  23,  1871. 

We  are  taking  heart  again  about  the  Duke's  son. 
We  have  just  passed  a  delicious  morning — Mme. 
de  Stael  herself  was  in  raptures.  I  had  brought 
Gounod  with  me,  and  he  was  sparkling.  Finally  he 
sat  down  to  the  piano,  and  gave  us  the  third  act  of 
Othello,  the  symphony  with  choruses;  I  don't  re- 
member now  whether  he  spoke  them  or  played  them. 
One  of  the  ^ Us'  in  my  piano  was  out  of  tune;  as 
he  took  his  leave,  seeing  the  pleasure  he  had  given 
us,  he  came  back  to  me  and  said:  *' Have  the -D, 
fixed  against  I  come  again." 

This  is  the  reply  Saint-Saens  sent  to  Gounod's 
letter  asking  him  to  play  the  organ — what  do  you 
think  of  it  ?  *'  Accord  in  ut^  accord  in  sol^  i.  e.  per- 
fect accord." ^ 

That  sort  of  thing  charms  Mme.  de  Stael — has  quite 
turned  her  head.  She's  a  saint — with  Cardinal  Man- 
ning's permission ;  she  edifies  me,  makes  me  quite 
envy  her.  Immersed  in  affairs,  my  mind  and  life 
in  full  activity,  my  thoughts  do  not  dwell,  as  hers 
do,  upon  God  ;  I  would  they  did. 

London,  May  25,  1871. 

Paris  effaced  in  a  single  night  from  the  map  of 
the  world  !  ^    There's  nothing  left  for  it  but  to  found 

1  A  play  (for  which  there  is  no  equivalent  in  English)  on  the 
French  phrase  etre  d'' accord ^  meaning,  of  persons,  "  All  right,  I 
agree  "  (Je  suis  d'accord),  and  of  musical  instruments,  to  be  in  tune. 
—(Translator's  note.) 

2  News  had  just  reached  London  of  the  fires  lit  by  the  Commune. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  43 

a   new    commonwealth   (shall    we    even    call    it — 

France  ?  )  ;  but  for  such  an  undertaking — to  support 

misfortunes    of    such    magnitude,    there    needs   a 

people  in  full  vigor,  with  virgin  forces  and  a  violent 

and  audacious  patriotism.    I  mean  all  those  who  are 

responsible  for  our  misfortunes  ;  they  ought  to  know 

when  to  step  aside  and  give  place  to  the  younger 

generation — and  to  faith — which  alone  can  save  us. 

Roger  has  sent  me  a  succession  of  telegrams  dated 

from  Mt.  Val6rien,  one  of  them  in  some  sort  terribly 

eloquent  :  "  I  dare  no  further,  Colonel  Lokner  says, 

question  the  horizon.'*     A  telegram  reports  that  the 

old  Louvre  will  be  saved.     The  pictures  I  know  are 

at   Brest.     If   they  leave  us   Sainte-Chapelle,  with 

Notre-Dame  and  Les  Invalides,  we  might  rebuild 

Paris. 

London,  May  26,  1871. 

Fve  been  on  the  jump  since  morning  to  get  the 
London  firemen  off.  Mr.  Gladstone  spoke  some 
words  of  sympathy  yesterday  and  I  hastened  to 
thank  him,  and  also  Sir  Robert  Peel,^  who  had 
pilloried  the  Commune  with  his  customary  vigor  of 
speech.  I  suggested  to  him  the  notion  of  sending 
to  Paris  a  detachment  of  the  London  fire-brigade 
with  their  steam-pumps.  He*s  a  ''  hustler  ''  as  the 
Yankees  say:  the  sort  we  need  to  gather  up  our 
scattered  fragments.  The  idea  took  effect  and 
spread  (it  is  no  exaggeration)  as  if  by  electricity.  We 
took  a  hansom  to  the  first  fire-brigade  station  ;  to 
hurry  the  thing  an  appointment  was  made  with 
Capt.  Shaw  somewhere  along  the  route.     It  was  all 

1  Brother  of  the  present  Speaker,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Robert  Peel, 


44  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

settled — orders  and  instructions  given,  the  ship  char- 
tered, M.  Jules  Favre  notified  at  the  same  time  as 
Lord  Granville.  .  .  . 

London,  Friday  Evening. 

Orders  countermanded,  under  the  pretext  that  the 
fire  has  been  mastered.  I  replied  in  vain  :  **  What 
difference  does  that  make  ?  ''  It  was  in  vain,  I  kept 
my  minister*s  telegram  in  my  pocket.  Lord  Lyons  ^ 
had  been  notified,  and  Lord  Granville  had  sent  for 
me  to  come  to  the  Foreign  Office  to  advise  me  of 
the  countermand  that  he  had  received  and  trans- 
mitted. I  was  not  well  received  when  I  brought 
the  order  **  to  stop  *'  to  the  firemen  and  volunteers. 
They  had  gone  into  it  with  a  will.  But  they  could 
not  be  more  disappointed  than  I  was.  It  was  a 
precious  opportunity  to  fraternize  lost. 

The  night  of  the  23d  and  24th  of  May,  with  its 
dismal  glow,  which  was  seen  on  all  sides  of  Paris,  re- 
minds me  of  the  night  of  the  24th  of  August,  1572. 
These  are  two  crimes  that  belong  together. 

What  has  become  of  our  dear  priest  ?  Pray 
heaven  to  spare  him. 


Extracts  ttom  tbe  1Klote6» 

.  .  .  La  Commune  at  an  end,  I  felt  public  opinion 
fall  away  from  us,  at  least  that  expressed  by  the 
press,  which  is  not  always  to  be  confounded,  how- 
ever, with  that  which  rules  the  masses.  It  was  the 
moment  when  sympathy  was  taking  a  turn  in  favor 

1  British  Ambassador  to  France;  died  in  1887. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  45 

of  the  Communists,  whom  every  tide  scattered  on 
the  English  coast.  It  was  forgotten  that  the  blood 
they  came  stained  with  was  that  of  their  victims ;  it 
was  the  fashion  to  bewail  their  miserable  fate.  Lady 
Burdett-Coutts  gave  the  signal,  and  at  her  own  ex- 
pense took  charge  of  one  of  the  first  bands  of  disem- 
barked ;  she  even  had  one  day  the  hardihood  to  ask 
me  to  take  charge  of  them  myself.  Subscriptions 
were  opened  for  them  in  the  newspapers.  Nothing 
gives  a  better  idea  of  the  stupidity  of  the  opinion 
reigning  at  that  moment  in  London  than  the  ques- 
tion asked  by  a  Lord  (by  courtesy), — that  is  to  say, 
by  the  son  of  a  peer.  Some  one  was  speaking  to 
him  of  the  wound  the  son  of  the  Due  de  Broglie 
got  in  the  course  of  the  recapture  of  Paris,  and  he 
inquired  naively  on  which  side  he  was.  Of  course 
the  British  government  did  not  permit  itself  such  a 
change  of  attitude,  but  Lord  Granville's  reserve 
redoubled.  I  thought  I  had  advised  the  government 
for  the  best  in  engaging  it  to  make  no  useless 
protests,  to  let  the  reaction  in  opinion  come  about 
spontaneously.  And,  if  it  decided  on  following  up 
anybody,  to  launch  the  blow  at  some  illustrious  ras- 
cal like  Felix  Pyat.  This  was  the  advice  of  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Bruce,^  whose  gorge 
rose  against  this  inundation  of  blood-stained  filth, 
and  who  did  not  admit  that  the  law  could  extend  its 
protection,  under  pretext  of  political  exigency,  to 
the  most  execrable  of  assassins.  Still,  in  a  matter  of 
this  sort,  the  honor  of  England  was  at  the  mercy  of 
her  judges,  and  the  government  had  no  desire  to 
1  Created  Lord  Aberdare  in  1873. 


46  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

compromise  itself  by  a  movement  of  generous  in- 
dignation. The  Gladstone-Granville  Cabinet  did 
not  show  itself  more  courageous  in  the  presence  of 
the  agitation  of  the  radicals  in  favor  of  the  Com- 
mune than  in  the  presence  of  the  prestige  (not  to 
employ  another  word)  of  the  victories  of  Germany. 


Bjtracta  ttom  tbe  CorreaponDence* 

London,  June  12,  1871. 

This  morning  the  Comte  de  Paris  came  to  pay  his 
ofificial  call  at  the  Embassy.  He  is  waiting  for  the 
Princess  to  be  confined,  and  could  not  follow  his 
brother  and  his  uncles,^  but  was  unwilling  to  post- 
pone coming  to  take  possession  of  the  right  which 
has  finally  been  given  him  again. 

He  got  out  of  a  hansom,  like  the  plainest  of  mor- 
tals, in  a  pouring  rain.  I  hastened  forward  to  re- 
ceive him  ;  a  little  more  and  the  doorkeeper  would 
have  refused  admittance  to  so  unassuming  a  visitor. 
You  perceive  that  the  scene  scarcely  lends  itself  to 
historical  painting  of  the  sort  at  Versailles. 

It  was  a  solemn  moment  all  the  same,  and  for 
me  a  delicate  one ;  I  had  to  be  on  my  guard  that 
neither  more  nor  less  than  the  proper  thing  should 
be  said  to  the  Prince ;  more  than  all  it  was  especial- 
ly difficult  to  catch  the  exact  shade  of  the  terms, 
full  of  deference,  but  distinctly  respectful,  in  which 
he  should  express  himself  in  regard  to  M.  Thiers.     I 

1  The  Chamber  had  repealed  the  laws  exiling  them,  and  M.  Gavard 
had  had  the  honor  some  days  before  of  signing  a  passport  for  the 
other  Princes. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOiY.  47 

was  happily  inspired  with  the  idea  of  asking  the  Prince 
himself  to  take  the  pen  and  he  wrote  at  my  table 
the  following  dispatch  :  "  The  Comte  de  Paris  came 
Saturday  to  Albert-Gate-House.  He  said  to  me, 
that  the  Embassy  being  French  territory,  he  had 
hastened  to  knock  at  the  door.  For  the  rest  the 
special  object  of  his  visit  was  to  express  to  the  of- 
ficial representative  of  his  country  the  profound  joy 
he  feels  at  the  recent  decision  of  the  National  As- 
sembly which  opened  to  him  the  gates  of  the  land 
that  he  has  never  ceased  to  love  above  all  others. 
In  particular  he  asked  me  to  act  as  his  spokesman 
to  the  chief  of  executive  power  and  give  him  assur- 
ance of  his  respect.** 

The  message  was  sent  the  same  evening  with  the 
simple  addition  of  S.  A.  R.  Mgr.  before  the  name 
of  the  Comte  de  Paris. 

London,  June  15,  1871. 

Many  compliments  about  my  dispatch,  on  the 
part  of  the  due  De  Broglie,  as  well  as  of  M.  Jules 
Favre  who  recfretted  however  that  I  had  added  .  .  . 


"fcj* 


London,  June  27,  1871. 

Yesterday  evening  I  visited  parliament.  You 
outsiders  think  it  exists ;  but  it  does  not.  I  found 
one  individual  who  gesticulated,  making  motions  to 
waken  another  who  slept  on  the  bench  opposite 
him.  The  conservative  party  was  combating  the 
great  innovation,  the  secret  ballot-bill,  destined  to 
fill  this  imprudent  land  with  democracy  brimming 
full.  Nothing  could  be,  I  should  say,  more  an- 
tagonistic to  the   English  character  and  habits  of 


48  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1871. 

thought :  it  IS  a  slur  cast  on  the  civic  courage  of  the 
electors,  it  is  a  step  toward  universal  suffrage — nay, 
even  toward  allowing  women  to  vote. 

They  were  fifteen  in  all.  Near  half-past  nine,  a 
reinforcement  of  twenty  arrived,  who  had  been 
asleep  ;  from  time  to  time  somebody  woke  up  and 
cried  :  **  Hear,  hear  !  *'  The  orator  took  fresh  heart, 
and  turned  toward  the  benevolent  auditors.  Sud- 
denly the  sleepers  leaped  to  their  feet  and  removed 
their  hats  :  the  speaker  had  finished  and  they  wished 
each  of  them  to  have  their  say  and  be  done  with  it, 
so  as  to  go  home  and  get  to  bed.  I  began  to  under- 
stand that  nobody  comes  but  those  who  wish  to 

speak. 

London,  Sept.  5,  1871. 

Mr.  Gladstone  has  made  a  speech.  In  France  we 
should  call  him  a  socialist  and  it  may  be  should  not 
be  wrong.  Another  stampede  among  the  horses  in 
the  camp  at  Aldershot.  If  the  English  have  for- 
gotten how  to  tie  their  horses,  and  can't  sail  up  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames  without  running  aground,  and 
can't  open  their  mouths  without  cheering  on  the 
rich,  there  is  material  for  a  new  book  on  England. 


I  started  off  at  nearly  two  o'clock ;  not  having  a 
church  to  visit  in  this  country  without  a  personal 
God  and  without  art ;  I  passed  by  the  National 
Gallery,  and  stopped  for  some  time  before  my  be- 
loved Italians ;  I  amused  myself  by  comparing  the 
Madonna  of  Corregio  and  that  of  Raphael.  I  had 
some  things  to  do ;  ascertained,  by  the  way,  that 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  49 

even  the  chief  of  police  is  in  the  country.  And  the 
robbers?  ...  In  public  offices,  as  in  the  Board  of 
Trade,  there  is  absolutely  no  one,  all  the  employees 
are  off  to  the  Continent  for  two  months.  There 
would  not  even  have  been  a  doorkeeper  left  but 
that  we  had  announced  a  communication  and  some 
one  had  to  receive  it.  At  last  I  reached  the  Club ;  ^ 
it  is  really  charming  to  find  oneself  in  the  midst  of 
so  many  books ;  with  all  the  means  of  occupying 
the  mind  and  being  alone  !  Here  is  Grote,  Momm- 
sen,  the  most  beautiful  editions  of  all  the  classics 
and  of  the  books  on  the  European  galleries ;  only 
there  are  too  many  of  them,  they  neutralize  each 
other  and  puzzle  the  will,  and  I  sit  looking  at  them, 
unable  to  choose. 

I  took  Denys^  to  Covent-Garden,  The  opera 
is  converted  into  a  sort  of  promenade  concert.  You 
should  see  the  inventions  in  Musical  art  in  this 
country:  they  put  the  gas  out,  light  it  again;  fire 
off  cannons  (I  mean  literally)  ;  have  horses  stamping 
over  the  floor  and  outbursts  of  savage  cries  from 
different  parts  of  the  hall,  and  instantaneous  chang- 
ing of  the  orchestra  from  the  pit  to  the  gallery, 
and  they  call  all  this  music.  The  audience  is  en- 
chanted and  the  leader  of  the  orchestra  thinks  he 
has  outdone  Wagner. 

London,  September  20,  1871. 

I  was  delighted  at  the  Club  yesterday  to  read  M. 
Guizot*s   article.     Have  been  turning  over  the  old 

1  Athenaeum. 

2  The  Baron  Denys  Cochm,  now  Deputy. 


50  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOAT,  [1871. 

Due  de  Broglie's  biographical  notes.  They  bring  him 
back  very  vividly  to  one.  He  was  a  politician  of  the 
school  of  St.  Louis,  and  deserved  to  be  his  minister. 
The  old  man  that  I  knew  and  whose  memory  I 
revere  was  certainly  the  young  man  who  at  twenty 
forgot  that  he  was  the  head  of  the  House  of  Broglie  ; 
he  might  well  say  it  because  every  one  believes 
him.  .  .  . 

To-morrow  morning  I  am  going  to  assist  at  the 
battle  of  Dorking  ;  ^  planning  the  while  my  commer- 
cial dispatch.  This  new  sport  is  all  the  rage.  Every 
minute  a  new  supplement  of  the  newspapers  ap- 
pears to  give  the  news  of  the  battle  ;  some  of  the 
military  engaged  are  distinguishing  themselves 
even.    Our  neighbors  go  from  sublime  to  ridiculous. 

Walmer  Castle,  2  September  27,  1871. 

I  hardly  know  yet  where  I  am,  for  I  arrived  in 
the  night.  I  saw  a  portcullis,  a  lowered  draw- 
bridge, enormous  walls,  the  most  bizarre  corridors, 
vaults,  and  at  last  a  donjon  where  I  am  established 
like  Foquet  or  Bolivar.  Don't  push  the  comparison 
too  far. 

I  arrived  at  half-past  seven  ;  I  was  taken  round  and 
round,  sometimes  upstairs,  sometimes  down,  without 
being  blindfolded  however,  till  I  reached  my  hostess, 
who  was  reposing  on  a  white  sofa — white  on  white. 
How  beautiful  she  is  !  and  how  amiable,  in  spite  of 

i  The  military  manoeuvres  devised  as  a  reply  to  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled the  Battle  of  Dorking.  In  this  pamphlet  an  hostile  army  was 
supposed  to  attack  London,  and  you  are  told  of  its  success. 

2  jResidence  of  Earl  Granville,  Lord  Warden  of  the  CinquQ  Ports. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  51 

a  little  coldness  of  manner  which  goes  well  with  her 
brilHant  complexion  !  I  was  presented  to  her 
mother  (her  eyes  are  buried  in  her  head  ;  she  sees, 
however) ;  and  then  to  the  charming  Lady  Georgi- 
ana  Fullerton.^  We  dined  without  the  beautiful 
Countess  who  remained  where  she  was,  stretched  on 
her  sofa.  The  talk  was  unimportant ;  everybody  rose 
at  the  sacramental  ceremony  of  passing  the  wine, 
and  then  we  returned  to  the  drawing-room.  But  I 
must  tell  you  a  little  adventure  I  had  on  the  way  here  ! 
I  met  a  lady  and  her  daughter  on  the  train ;  we  had 
had  a  bit  of  an  accident  with  the  locomotive,  and 
the  mother  was  overcome  with  curiosity  ;  she  wanted 
to  see  what  the  trouble  was,  and  I  helped  them  off 
and  on  again  ;  and  presently  they  began  to  speak 
French  and  we  understood  at  last  what  we  were 
saying.  They  got  out  at  the  station  before  Deal. — 
Everybody  here  was  on  Xh^qui  vive  :  "  Who  can  she 
be  ? ''  There  is  to  be  a  wedding  Tuesday  in  this 
neighborhood  and  the  two  ladies  had  come  down 
to  attend  it.  Every  one  was  curious  about  them, 
they  asked  me  who  they  are — cross-examined  me. 
Finally  the  description  they  give  me  evoked  an 
image  :  it  was  the  two  ladies — Lady  Vernon  and  her 
daughter. 

Meanwhile,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  had  re- 
lapsed into  business — he  opening  boxes  and  sending 
telegrams,  at  the  other  end  of  the  room  where  we 
were  chatting.  When  he  was  done,  he  came  over 
our  way  and  told  some  funny  stories  and  told  them 

1  Daughter  of  the  first  Count  Granville.  Died  in  1885.  Authoress 
of  some  well-thought-of  novels. 


52  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

well.  You  could  see  that  he  is  in  the  habit  of  tell- 
ing stories,  and  that  his  auditors  are  in  the  habit 
of  listening  and  applauding.  Silence  was  restored 
when  we  played  chess,  and  was  only  broken  by  the 
sound  of  the  moves.  We  held  our  breath.  I  began 
like  a  greenhorn.  Perhaps  it  was  only  a  feint. 
My  adversary  was  taken  in  the  snare  and  played 
carelessly.  I  pulled  myself  together  and  he  would 
have  been  most  astonished  but  a  telegram  came 
and  was  passed  to  me. 

It  was  of  course  from  Lady  Vernon — her  thanks  to 
M.  Gavard.  When  Lord  Granville  had  retired  to  his 
corner,  instead  of  relapsing  into  business,  he  had 
written  to  his  neighbors  :  '*  M.  Gavard  presents  his 
respects  to  the  ladies  whom  he  was  able  to  serve  on 
the  way  down.'*  This  bit  will  give  you  an  exact 
notion  of  the  amiable  character  of  Lord  Granville 
and  of  his  sociability.  Immediately  afterward 
every  one  went  to  bed.  So  here  I  am  in  my  cavern. 
It  is  a  regular  Noah's  Ark  :  contains  some  of 
everything — spiders,  gnats.  .  .  .  The  house,  how- 
ever, is  as  clean  and  comfortable  and  orderly  as 
possible. 

Sunday. — First,  **  luncheon,"  with  all  sorts  of 
things  to  eat  at  half-past  nine.  I  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Lady  Vita  (Victoria-Alberta)  a  mischief  with 
golden  hair ;  my  poor  heart  could  not  resist  her — 
*'  my  poor  heart,**  I  am  afraid,  may  become  a  bit 
hackneyed  with  all  its  infatuations.  I  went  to  Mass 
at  Deal  with  the  Fullertons,  in  a  little  chapel  where 
there  were  some  Irish  Soldiers.  The  poor  priest 
bungled    the    High    Mass    with    all    its    religious 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  53 

images ;  but  he  hopes  to  keep  his  congregation  as 
long  as  the  rival  Establishment. 

On  our  return  I  stopped  a  bit  at  the  castle,  think- 
ing of  the  poor  priest  at  every  little  opening  in  the 
picturesque  view  ;  the  walls  are  covered  with  ivy  in 
the  foreground  and  overlap  each  other,  and  there 
are  trees  that  stand  out  against  them,  and  cannon 
peeping  through  the  stones,  and  the  sea  at  the 
horizon  like  a  ribbon  of  silver.  Ships  pass  and  re- 
pass along  the  greatest  ocean  highway  in  existence. 
In  my  excursions  about  this  great  toy — this  fortress 
fitted  up  by  an  upholsterer — I  found  the  beautiful 
Countess  lying  at  ease  between  two  cannon,  drink- 
ing in  the  breeze.  She  is  a  hyperborean  beauty — 
one  of  the  kind  that  does  not  flourish  except  in 
the  rain  and  the  wind  and  cold. 

Her  poor  mother,  Mrs.  Campbell,  is  blind ;  I 
thought  it  was  only  an  apparent  infirmity,  but  no  ; 
she  has  not  seen  a  ray  of  light  for  fifteen  years. 
She  lost  her  sight  by  reading  to  her  husband  at 
night.  Now,  however,  she  is  so  skilful  that  I 
lunched  and  dined  with  her,  and  I  saw  her  at  a 
game  of  chess  without  suspecting  that  she  was  blind. 

Our  second  lunch  we  took  at  two  o'clock,  after 
which  we  walked  over  to  the  cliffs  of  Kingsdown. 
From  time  to  time  one  could  see  France  ;  between 
it  and  us  lay  the  dangerous  shifting  sands  of  the 
channel.  We  recognized  them  by  the  way  the  waves 
broke.  There,  betv/een  the  sands  and  us,  was 
an  immense  fleet :  I  counted  one  hundred  and  twenty 
vessels.  It  reminded  me  of  my  walks  along  the 
sound  or  the  straits  of  Messina.     There  are  no  doubt 


54  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

more  vessels  here  than  in  front  of  Scylla,  but  where 
is  the  sun,  where  are  the  oranges,  and  the  indefinite 
I  know  not  what,  that  intoxicates,  that  creates 
memories,  and  leaves  one  agreeably  melancholy? 
A  little  person  accompanied  us  on  her  pony ; 
nothing  could  be  more  amusing  than  this  little  horse- 
woman, who  chatted  busily  all  the  way.  She  is  four 
years  and  a  half  old.  On  our  return  we  found  the 
beautiful  Countess  still  reposing  between  the  cannon. 
I  kept  her  company  until  the  cold  drove  me  away. 
Afterwards  I  checkmated  my  minister  in  good  earn- 
est ;  I  promised  him  his  revenge  ;  and  then  said 
good-night  and  au  revoir. 

London,  September  26,  1871. 

I  spent  from  eight  o'clock  this  morning  to  five  this 
afternoon  at  Shoeburyness,^  immersed  in  artillery. 
What  a  Sabbath !  It  was  very  interesting ;  there 
was  a  special  train  ;  my  place  was  next  to  General 
Storck  (Under  Secretary  of  the  Minister  of  War),  who 
presided  at  the  fete  :  an  Englishman  without  the 
prejudices  of  country.  Our  officers  appeared  very 
well ;  all  eyes  were  on  them,  and  in  especial  on  Col- 
onel Berge^  who  used  to  know  George  and  saw 
him  frequently  at  Metz.  He  is  distinguished-look- 
ing. We  fired  some  shots  both  on  land  and  at  sea, 
pierced  armor  a  metre  thick,  admired  the  Moncrieff 
gun-carriage :  a  six-hundred-ton  piece  which  turned 
somersaults  in  air  at  every  shot  and  came  back  of  it- 
self to  its  original  position.     It  is  really  very  pretty 

1  At  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  left  bank. 

2  Baron  Berge.     He  had  been  commandant  of  the  army  corps. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  5g 

— too  much  so,  no  doubt,  to  be  practical.  We  got 
some  quite  good  shots  at  sea  at  eighteen  hundred 
metres.  If  I  had  not  been  afraid  of  being  indis- 
creet, I  should  have  proposed  moving  the  target  five 
hundred  metres  nearer,  or  farther  away.  We  should 
not  have  had,  no  doubt,  such  fine  results. 

London,  September  27,  1871. 

God  save  us  from  a  lonely  old  age  !  This  morn- 
ing I  visited  more  than  seven  hundred  old  men — 
childless,  unsurrounded  by  affection.  They  have 
food,  lodging,  such  care  as  is  necessary,  and  every- 
thing is  very  clean  ; — but  it  is  horrible.  To  have 
lived  so  many  years  and  have  no  fireside  of  your 
own,  to  leave  behind  you  here  below  no  hope,  to 
be  contracted  to  the  little  that  is  left  of  yourself,  to 
your  pains  and  misery  !  Mr.  Vernon  (Guardian  of  our 
parish,  Belgrave  Square  and  Grosvenor  Square — 
the  wealthiest  in  London,  and  comprising  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  souls)  came  for  me  this  morning 
and  took  me  to  a  workhouse  for  old  men — hospice 
or  hospital.  There  were  also  some  children  there, 
picked  up  in  the  streets  ;  they  stay  there  a  short 
time,  and  then  are  distributed  in  certain  proportions 
among  the  asylums  out  of  town.  The  establish- 
ment is  large  and  well  kept ;  no  bad  smells  any- 
where. Though  I  did  not  come  out  of  it  especially 
cheerful.  I  made  an  appointment  with  my  **  Guard- 
ian **  for  the  coming  week,  to  visit  the  workhouses 
for  sturdy  vagabonds. 

That  is  the  great  social  and  economical  problem  : 
humanity  must  be  reconciled  to  facing  enough  in  the 


56  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

way  of  irksomeness,  so  that  the  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants  of  this  parish  will  not  demand 
the  asylum  of  the  workhouse.  I  should  have  found 
this  visit  less  depressing  if  I  had  run  across  the 
white  caps  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  there,  that 
is  to  say,  the  love  of  God,  the  volunteers  in  the 
service  of  the  Divine  Love,  instead  of  the  salaried 
functionaries  in  the  service  of  humanity.  Still, 
prayers  are  offered  up  there ;  there  is  a  chapel,  but 
one  might  call  it  a  refectory  and  not  be  far  out. 
My  "  Guardian  '*  pleased  me  infinitely ;  ^  he  is  a 
brother-in-law  of  the  Lady  Vernon  of  the  railway 
train.^  Nothing  could  equal  his  kindness  nor  that 
of  his  young  wife.  These  English  astonish  me  ;  their 
charity  for  France  is  frantic,  passionate,  such  as  we 
ourselves  unhappily  do  not  all  practice. 

London,  October  7-9,  1871. 

1  learn  that  L^on  Say  ^  is  going  to  come  to  a  ban- 
quet at  the  Mansion  House,  on  the  eighteenth.  Noth- 
ing could  be  more  opportune  than  this  visit,  unless 
I  have  to  take  the  field  again  because  of  M.  Thiers* 
wish  to  **  decorate  ''  the  Lord  Mayor.  The  amen- 
ities of  the  first  campaign,  which  brought  on 
an  exchange  of  remarks  in  Parliament,  seem  to  be 
forgotten.  M.  de  Flavigny  had  brought  a  fistful  of 
"  decorations  '*  to  some  Irishmen  who  had  deserved 

^  The  Hon.  William  Vernon,  younger  son  of  the  second  Lord  Ver- 
non, married  to  Mile.  Boileau,  who  died  in  1881.  She  was  a  grand- 
niece  of  Boileau. 

2  See  above  the  letter  of  September  twenty-seventh. 

^  M.  Leon  Say,  then  Prefet  de  la  Seine,  was  coming  to  thank  the 
English  for  help  sent  France  during  the  war. 


i87i.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON;  57 

well  of  France  during  the  war,  but  not  so  well  of 
England.  Three  of  them  were  engaged  in  the  agi- 
tation for  Home  Rule.  Lord  Granville  appreciated 
the  efforts  I  then  made  to  avoid  for  both  govern- 
ments a  tiresome  complication.  The  ill-omened 
names  disappeared,  and  I  remember  a  note  that  I 
received,  while  the  mess  was  still  undisposed  of,  sug- 
gesting that  I  substitute  china  for  the  decorations. 
It  was  his  amiable  lordship  who  gave  me  this  dis- 
creet and  charitable  piece  of  advice.  This  time 
Lord  Granville  consents  to  shut  his  eyes,  "  since 
my  government  finds  it  agreeable  to  give  foreign 
subjects  decorations  which  they  will  not  be  author- 
ized to  wear.'* 

London,  October  10,  1871. 

Some  friends  took  me  yesterday  to  the  church  at 
Eaton  Place,  which  was  decorated  for  the  harvest- 
home.  Poor  Mrs.  Vernon  was  quite  knocked  up, 
tricking  out  a  pulpit  with  fruits  and  festoons, 
sheaves  and  inscriptions  in  grains  of  wheat.  It 
didn't  prevent  the  church  from  looking  like  a  cow- 
pen  divided  into  stalls. 

In  the  evening  I  saw  another  church  which  I  shall 
designate  by  the  name  of  its  founder  only,  Mr. 
Beresford  Hope.  It  is  well  enough  built,  in  the  By- 
zantine style,  but  the  ornamentation  is  not  happy. 
Two  rows  of  colossal  reed-pipes  first  struck  me  ; 
they  were  the  organs  decked  out  with  ribbons  ;  noth- 
ing but  the  mottoes  were  lacking.  They  all  sang 
out  of  tune,  the  men  on  the  right,  the  women  on 
the  left,  but  they  were  very  fervent  and  serious  in 
this  church,  which  one  would  have  said  was  Catholic, 


58  A  DIPLOMAT  lA'  LONDON.  [1871. 

for  they  had  the  word  perpetually  on  their  lips. 
They  are  ^'  high  church/'  The  Pope  is  the  only 
thing  that  holds  them  back. 

Before  dinner  we  visited  the  managing  office  of 
the  Westminster  workhouse  and  the  place  where 
the  houseless  are  sheltered  for  the  night.  Fancy,  in 
the  first  place,  a  whole  land  of  authentic  miracle  be- 
hind the  big  buildings  of  the  Westminster  region  ; 
the  depth  of  misery  is  cheek-by-jowl  with  the  height 
of  wealth.  You  have  only  the  fair  exterior,  the 
seamy  side  lies  behind.  I  do  not  say  that  the  house 
of  refuge  where  shelter  is  offered  overnight,  is  se- 
ductive :  twenty-four  beds  spread  about  the  cham- 
ber of  a  ramshackle  old  house ;  still,  it  had  been 
cleaned  and  the  walls  replastered,  and  it  had  all 
ceased  smelling  bad  by  the  time  we  visited  it.  The 
guests  sleep  under  covers  made  of  leather  (it  is  less 
encouraging  to  vermin)  ;  before  going  to  bed  they 
take  a  bath  and  put  on  a  night-shirt ;  their  clothes 
they  leave  behind.  They  are  given  a  piece  of  bread 
and  some  oat-soup,  and  before  leaving  in  the  morning 
are  obliged  to  break  stone.  The  hospitality,  it  seems, 
is  without  limit,  but  the  home  is  full  in  winter  only. 

London,  October  15,  1871. 

This  is  one  way  of  passing  the  night.  After  a  day 
of  writing,  I  was  nodding  with  fatigue  over  my 
novel,  Jane  Eyre — it  is  so  long  !  I  wanted  to  profit 
by  the  happy  moment  and  crept  into  bed ;  but 
good-night,  sleep  !  I  took  refuge  in  codeine.  The 
good  effects  of  it  had  hardty  began  to  become 
perceptible,  when  bang  !  bang  !     It  was  X in  a 


18; I.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  59 

white  cravat  ;  the  Prince  Leuchtenberg  had  to  have 
a  signature  :  a  secretary  was  waiting  at  the  door.  I 
signed  and  slept  a  bit.  Bang!  bang  !  It  was  a  tele- 
gram. And  so  I  reached  three  o'clock.  Bang  ! 
bang!  Another  telegram,  which  brought  me  to  five 
o'clock. 

A  letter  from  Say  :  we  shall  be  inseparable.  Called 
on  the  Lord  Mayor,  who  makes  us  his  guests,  and 
on  Lord  Granville,  who  approves  my  toast  to  the 
Marchioness  of  Lothian,  for  I  am  to  make  a  speech  ! 
Can  you  imagine  it  ?  and  no  chance  to  plead  illness  1 

London,  October  18,  1871. 

Yesterday  passed  off  very  well.  At  six  o'clock  I 
was  at  Say's,  at  the  Mansion  House,  The  first  re- 
past was  enough  to  make  Gargantua  himself  start 
back.  The  Dakin  ^  household,  in  the  midst  of  a 
service  of  gold,  with  lackeys  in  livery,  under  a  ceil- 
ing of  historic  splendor,  were  sufficiently  amusing — 
good,  simple  folk,  with  manners  a  bit  common.  Then 
we  visitdd  police  stations,  markets,  schools.  The 
middle-class  school  on  Tabernacle  Road,  interested 
me  most — eleven  hundred  children  of  from  six  to 
sixteen  years  old.  They  had  them  file  out  before 
us,  in  military  style,  keeping  step.  "  By  the  left 
flank  !  " — banners  flying,  trumpets  blowing.  First, 
in  our  honor,  they  gave  the  Marseillaise  ;  so  be  it — 
we  bowed  ;  then  ih^Jeune  et  beau  Diinois.  It  never 
occurs  to  these  conservative  folk  that  we  change 
our  music  too  at  each  revolution. 

I  took  Say  afterward  to  Lord  Granville's  who,  as 
1  Sir  Thomas  Dakin,  Lord  Mayor  in  1871. 


6o  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871* 

always,  was  most  agreeable,  but  we  accomplished 
nothing.  Say  is  going  to  speak  this  evening  and  to 
go  bail  for  us  ;  he  is  the  leader  of  the  free-trade 
party  in  the  Chambers,  and  very  well-received  here 
— they  will  believe  him  sooner  than  they  will  us. 
It  is  our  last  card. 

Visited  the  French  hospital,  the*  church,  the  Sis- 
ters. All  these  good  people  were  enchanted — no- 
body had  ever  thought  of  them  before.  The  young 
Sister  Superior  was  as  interesting  as  could  be  when 
she  and  Say  were  recognizing  each  other. 

Have  been  to  another  informal   dinner,  of  forty 

places.     The  table  groaned   beneath  the  weight  of 

gold  and  victuals.     What   abysses    such    stomachs 

must   be  !  .  .  .     The  Lord    Mayor  wore   his    cross 

about  his  neck.     They   admired  the  model  of  our 

^^  late  ''  Hotel  de  Ville.     Then,  after  the  dinner  which 

lasted  from  half-past  seven  to  half-past  ten,  a  young 

clergyman  came  and  warbled  love  songs.  **  Marvel,'' 

Montalembert   says,    *'  at   the  power   of    England  ; 

she  is  long-suffering !  '' 

London,  October  19,  1871. 

I  have  made  my  speech !  .  .  .  I  spoke  from  be- 
ginning to  end  without  a  mistake — nay,  with  warmth 
even.  It  was  not  so  difficult,  after  all.  Really,  I 
was  quite  calm ;  and  nobody  understood  what  I 
said,  and  everybody  listened.  It  came  off  at  the 
court  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Spades.  The  king 
and  queen  came  in  arm-in-arm,  their  high  officers 
about  them,  one  of  them  carrying  a  sword, 
the  others  carrying  nothing.  Then  there  was  a 
mixture  of  music,  prayers,  talk,  nut-cracking,  in  a 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  61 

magnificent  hall.  Finally,  after  the  feast,  which 
lasted  hours,  there  came  speech-making,  which  lasted 
hours.  The  toast-master  succeeded  the  chaplain,  and 
he  stood  behind  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  presided  over 
the  ceremony.  You  should  have  heard  the  intona- . 
tions  of  the  speakers,  you  should  have  seen  their 
solemnity  of  feature.  In  the  midst  of  it  all  I  spoke. 
Here  is  the  end  of  my  toast : 

"  I  wish  to  speak  also  of  the  noble  women  who 
united  to  aid  the  French  refugees  in  London.  They 
procured  them  bread,  clothes,  employment,  shelter ; 
and  when  the  houses  provided  for  their  reception  no 
longer  sufficed  to  hold  them,  took  them,  as  you 
know,  under  their  own  roofs.  They  gave  them 
more  than  mere  material  aid,  they  gave  them  what 
is  more  precious  to  an  exile — consolation  and  en- 
couragement, they  stretched  their  arms  out  to 
them,  they  took  them  like  friends  to  their  own  fire- 
sides. I  wish  to  thank  them  deeply,  from  the  bot- 
tom of  my  heart ;  and  I  ask  your  permission,  my 
lord,  to  propose  two  toasts :  To  the  generous 
women  who  organized  at  London  the  Ladies*  Com- 
mittee of  Relief  for  the  French  refugee  families, 
and  who  have  directed  it  during  these  long  months 
of  the  war  with  a  solicitude  that  nothing  has 
checked,  with  a  devotion  without  bounds  ; — to  the 
Marchioness  of  Lothian,  and  the  august  personages 
and  noble  ladies  who  shared  her  labors !  To  the 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Relief  for  the  French 
peasants  and  farmers,  and  to  their  president.  Lord 
Vernon!" 

This  morning  I  went  back  to  the  Mansion  House 


62  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

to  see  the  King  of  Spades  dispense  justice  in  his 
royal  apparel.  He  did  it  in  a  room  hard  by  his  bed- 
chamber ;  and  then  went  to  preside  over  his  parlia- 
ment :  two  hundred  members,  aldermen  and  sheriffs, 
all  tricked  out  with  wigs,  halberds,  swords,  hammer- 
ing the  table,  and  cheers.  Say's  speech,  the  re- 
plies to  it,  and  cheers,  all  went  off  nicely.  As  we 
were  coming  out  we  were  shown  the  first  charter  of 
the  liberties  of  the  city,  a  bit  of  parchment  from 
William  the  Conqueror,  which  they  have  since 
merely  continued      It  was  a  most  interesting  visit. 

London,  October  20,  1871. 

The  day  ended  as  interestingly  as  it  began.  At 
six  o'clock  I  went  to  find  Say.  They  were  still  at 
table,  and  there  was  another  little  festival,  and  some 
more  little  toasts,  one  of  which  I  offered  when  my 
turn  came.  Finally,  the  loving-cup  made  its  round. 
The  way  of  it  is  this  :  You  rise  and  face  one  of  your 
next  neighbors,  hold  the  lid  while  he  (or  she), 
also  standing,  drinks ;  then  you  exchange  a  compli- 
ment (if  it  happens  to  be  with  a  pretty  woman,  so 
much  the  better),  and  face  about  and  pass  the  cup 
and  the  ceremony  on. 

After  dinner  we  went  to  the  Fire-Brigade  Station. 
When  we  had  visited  the  establishment,  the  steam- 
engines,  the  harnessed  horses,  the  men  perpetually 
in  waiting  (the  whole  of  it  tucked  away  in  English 
fashion,  in  an  economy  of  space  that  is  a  miracle  of 
good  management),  the  signal  was  given.  We  held 
our  watches  in  our  hands.  There  was  a  rush  of 
men,   horses^   engine  ;  they  tore  like   mad   up   the 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  63 

black-paved  lane,  they  went  to  the  end  of  the  street 
and  came  back — time,  two  minutes  and  a  half.  I 
complimented  Captain  Shaw.  Then  he  led  the 
way  and  we  followed  through  a  pelting  rain,  with 
the  four  Misses  Dakin  struggling  along  through  the 
mud,  in  the  dark,  over  all  the  nameless  filth  that  finds 
its  way  by  night  into  the  city  alleys.  We  reached 
the  Thames.  A  boat,  with  steam  up,  was  waiting 
for  us.  We  stepped  aboard,  and  suddenly,  on  every 
side,  it  poured  forth  jets  of  water  that  arched  and 
fell  into  the  middle  of  the  Thames.  It  is  your  own 
fault  here,  if  your  house  burns  down.  The  "set- 
ting *'  was  excellent ;  it  was  a  place  where  the  bridges 
cross;  the  trains  came  and  went  with  a  frightful 
noise,  the  night  was  dark,  the  rain  was  falling,  it 
was  all  very  picturesque.  The  Misses  Dakin  would 
have  preferred  going  in  a  close  carriage.  One 
was  waiting  for  us  indeed,  with  its  four  lanterns 
and  domestics  armed  with  canes,  and  it  was 
thus  that  Say  was  conducted  to  the  railway 
station. 

I  finished  my  evening  at  the  Vernons*.  Nothing 
could  equal  the  vivacity,  the  sprightliness,  the  frank- 
ness, the  gayety  of  a  lady  I  met  there — the  wife  of 
Colonel  Anson,  M.  P.,  an  officer  who  was  in  the 
Crimean  War.  "  Why  do  you  like  the  French  so 
much?'*  I  asked  her.  ''  I  don't  know,''  she  replied  ; 
"  because  they  are  so  unhappy.  And  yet  that  can- 
not be  ;  I  loved  them  before  they  became  so."  She 
has  recently  returned  from  Strasburg,  where  she 
had  gone  simply  to  encourage  the  "  honest  "  party 
and  to  annoy  the  Prussians. 


64  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

London,  October  23,  1871. 

I  received  to-night  the  following  telegram  :  **  My 
compliments  on  your  toast. — Broglie/'  My  friends 
in  England  like  it,  too. 

To  continue  my  journal  :  Saturday,  went  with  the 
Vernons  to  Haymarket  Theatre  to  see  The  Rivals. 
If  the  amiable  Mrs.  Anson  had  not  accompanied 
us,  I  should  have  gone  to  sleep.  Sheridan's  art 
struck  me  as  in  its  boyhood,  the  acting  was  crude, 
and  the  public,  in  the  things  that  it  admired,  inept. 
I  dare  say  the  beauties  of  the  piece  escaped  me. 
'*  Haven't  you  noticed  my  ring?"  said  my  neighbor. 
"  To  be  sure,  the  colors  are  a  little  loud.  Look." 
It  was  an  escutcheon  in  three  colors,  with  France  in 
relief  on  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  She  had  bought  it 
in  Strasburg. 

Yesterday  I  dined  at  the  Rothschilds'  villa — I 
don't  know  its  name — out  in  the  direction  of  Kew. 
The  dinner  was  a  surprise :  only  the  family  was 
present ;  but  such  a  chicken! — nothing  but  a  chicken, 
but  with  the  whole  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms 
represented  in  the  sauce !  The  Lord  Mayor  w^ould 
have  sucked  his  fingers.  Stomachs  that  can  face  such 
dishes  twice  a  day  fill  me  with  admiration.  And  such 
feeders  !  .  .  .  And  yet,  really,  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  luxurious  upholstering  and  pampering  of  the 
flesh,  a  great  simplicity  obtains.  It  is  Alfred,  the  son, 
who  fetches  the  wine  from  the  cellar.  (The  cellar, 
to  be  sure,  is  like  that  of  Frederick  the  Great,  where 
he  kept  his  treasure.)  He  brought  up  a  lafitte  and 
a  sherry,  that  you  find  only  at  the  villa  of  Lionel 
de    Rothschild.     The  incontestable  superiority   of 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  65 

the  Wines  here  is  in  part  due,  it  seems,  to  their  being 
laid  away  in  a  cellar  as  isolated  as  an  observatory, 
and  to  their  being  never  moved  nor  jarred.  Of 
course,  you  know,  some  one  was  good  enough 
to  forewarn  me  that  their  superiority  is  incon- 
testable. 

London,  October  29,  187 1. 

London  fog!  It  is  easy  to  understand  how  it 
should  give  occasion  to  myriad  adventures  and  mis- 
takes. I  had  to  go  to  the  Embassy  through  a  fog 
so  dark  that  from  Piccadilly  on  we  could  go  no  faster 
than  a  walk,  and  had  to  give  warning  by  loud  cries 
that  we  were  coming.  I  had  been  to  see  Mr.  Glad- 
stone on  his  way  back  from  Greenwich,  where  he  had 
made  a  speech  to  fifteen  hundred  people.  His  voice 
was  gone.  He  had  scored  a  great  success,  but  I  don't 
believe  his  ministry  will  stand.  Mr.  Disraeli  grows 
every  day,  to  my  mind,  more  and  more  master  of  the 
situation.  Gladstone  is  clever,  and  has  a  clever 
tongue,  but  for  the  present  he  has  talked  enough, 
and  done  enough,  both  for  his  own  interest  and 
England's. 

I  have  not  lost  sight  of  my  work — the  founding 
of  a  sort  of  Clearing-House  for  the  French  charities 
in  London.  You  don't  know  what  I  mean  ? 
Listen :  I  want  to  establish  a  sort  of  central  com- 
mittee for  all  the  institutions  which  exist  at  present 
in  individual  isolation — for  the  Hospital,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Relief,  the  Sisters,  the  Leicester  Church, 
the  Embassy,  the  Consulate ;  and  as  a  beginning,  I 
want  to  have  a  sale,  which  will  bring  us  in  a  lot  of 
money. 
5 


66  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON:'  [1871. 

We  went  with  our  young  friends  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales*  theatre.  It  is  quite  elegant — almost  like  a 
drawing-room.  The  piece  was  dull — a  compound 
of  flat  plagiarisms  put  together  without  art.  The 
acting  capital,  but  the  total  effect  sufficiently  offen- 
sive ;  not  in  the  way  of  indecency  as  with  us,  but  of 
triviality,  and  of  a  sort  of  failure  in  gentlemanly 
delicacy  that  we  should  not  tolerate,  in  the  represent- 
ation of  the  father  of  one  of  the  characters.  We 
might  shorten  the  skirts  as  much  as  you  like;  but 
render  paternity  and  old  age  repulsive  and  ridicu- 
lous— no,  we  shouldn't  be  capable  of  that.  They 
don't  know  where  to  stop,  and  fall  presently  to  bru- 
tality. Still,  it  interested  me  much,  nay,  enter- 
tained me,  even.     I  understood  well  enough. 

London,  December  10,  1871. 

He  seems  to  be  mending;^  the  bulletins  have 
stopped  two  days  now  tolling  his  knell,  and  speak 
this  evening  of  his  being  better.  Hope  is  returning ; 
though  the  anxiety  is  still  widespread.  England 
begins  to  perceive  that  she  has  not  yet  wholly 
shaken  off  her  monarchic  prejudices.  The  news- 
papers talk  of  nothing  but  the  Prince's  illness,  and 
on  all  other  topics  suspend  discussion.  Crowds 
stand  about  Marlborough  House  ^  watching  for  the 
telegrams.  Bulletins  are  posted  /  almost  hourly  in 
all  parts  of  the  town,  and  reflected  in  manuscript 
copies  here  and  there  set  up  by  the  zeal  of  individ- 

1  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  down  with  typhoid  fever  at  Sand- 
righam. 

2  The  Prince  of  Wales'  palace  in  London. 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  67 

uals.     If  the  poor  Prince  recovers,  it  will  all  have 
been  for  England's  good  and  for  his  own. 

London,  December  19,  1871. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  safe  !  Lord  Granville  in- 
vited me  to  **  pot-luck/'  He  added  ArnaFs  witti- 
cism :  "  Perhaps  you'd  rather  I  didn't  treat  you  like 
a  friend  !  "  The  dinner  was  excellent,  and  interest- 
ing ;   Goschen,^  Hartington,^  and   Reeve^    there. 

I  took  my  young  friend  yesterday  to  dinner  at 
the  Club,*  and  showed  him  its  mysteries,  its  turns, 
and  all  its  points.  After  which  I  conceived  the 
fatal  idea  (or  rather  it  was  suggested  to  me)  of  tak- 
ing him  to  the  Alhambra.  The  house  is  fine  no 
doubt,  large,  well-lit,  or  rather  illuminated ;  but  for 
the  rest,  fancy  a  miscellaneous  lot  of  so-called  Colo- 
nels of  the  Horse-Guards  for  box-openers,  women 
of  the  town  in  the  body  of  the  house  and  on  the 
stage  (the  latter  altogether  naked),  acrobats  flying 
through  the  air,  epileptics  whose  fits  the  public 
encourages  by  its  applause,  a  brutal  charivari,  a 
veritable  cumulate  cacophony  of  strident  sounds, 
and  finally,  in  the  midst  of  all  of  it,  God  Save  the 
QueeUy  which  they  listen  to  standing  and  hats  off. 
Is  it   art    in  its  infancy  or  its  decrepitude  ?    They 

1  Right  Hon.  Goschen,  born  in  1831 ;  Privy  Counsellor  in  1865 ; 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  in  187 1. 

2  Right  Hon.  Spencer  Compton  Cavendish,  Marquis  of  Harting- 
ton,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  then  Chief  Secretary  for 
Ireland. 

3  Henry  Reeve,  Registrar  of  the  Privy  Council,  Associate  Member 
of  the  Institute,  Director  of  the  Edinburgh  Review, 

*  St.  James  Club. 


6S  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [187 1. 

have  literally  reached  the  point  of  putting  epilep- 
tic fits  on  the  stage  to  the  accompaniment  of  the 
band.  If  you  have  seen  it  once,  you  will  never 
want  to  see  it  again. 

London,  December  22,  1871. 

We  reached  the  station  yesterday  at  North  Camp 
toward  eleven  o'clock.^  A  magnificent  dragoon 
stepped  forward  with  an  envelope  ;  it  was  farther  on, 
at  another  station,  that  our  staff  were  waiting  us  ; 
and  there  they  were  indeed — holding  their  horses 
by  the  bridles — some  lancers  and  a  glittering  officer 
who  came  and  gave  us  his  hand  like  a  Frenchman. 
We  hastened  to  mount  into  the  saddle,  for  the  train 
was  late  and  the  troops  had  been  under  arms  since 
half-past  ten. 

We  went  forward  on  a  smart  trot  and  reached  the 
scene  (a  wide  prospect)  of  the  manoeuvres.  A  fog 
hovered  over  it  all,  thick  enough  to  soften  every- 
where the  middle  distance  without  totally  obscuring 
it.  The  ground  was  undulating,  broken  by  moors, 
bits  of  forest  and  hill,  and  scouts  were  out  waiting 
for  us  in  one  place  and  another,  to  give  us  our 
direction  and  to  hasten  forward  and  announce  our 
arrival.  Through  the  fog  we  discovered  a  black 
line ;  it  was  a  regiment  of  cavalry  with  helmets  and 
scarlet  uniforms,  and  we  recognized  the  dragoons. 
The  horsemen  who  had  announced  us  came  back 
at  a  gallop,  and  there  was  Lieutenant-General  Sir 
Hope  Grant,  with  his  chevrons,  won  in  the  Crimea, 

^  To  take  part  in  a  review  of  the  camp  at  Aldershot, 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON:  69 

in  India,  in  China.  The  meeting  occurred  in  the 
presence  of  our  respective  "  staffs/*  who  had  the 
politeness  not  to  laugh  except  in  their  sleeves. 
When  we  had  shaken  hands,  we  directed  our  horses 
toward  the  troops  ranged  in  line  of  battle.  Flags 
flying  and  God  Save  the  Queen  greeted  us.  We 
passed  along  the  front  rank  and  I  was  presented  to 
the  generals,  one  after  another,  I  stopped  and  ex- 
amined things  with  the  attention  that  constitutes 
politeness  in  great  men — here  a  bamboo-lance,  there 
a  modern  or  an  old  field-piece,  a  new  knapsack  that 
distributes  the  weight  along  the  back  and  reins,  a 
boot  on  trial.  I  had  the  courage  to  ask  whether 
the  flap  was  made  right;  an  observation  that 
ranked  me  at  once  among  the  fanatics  in  favor  of 
the  old-style  ordnance. 

Presently  the  troops  filed  out.  There  were  seven 
thousand  men — I  do  not  guarantee  that  all  of  them 
had  attained  years  of  virility.  Fine  review  order — 
performed  their  evolutions  with  the  stiffness  of  au- 
tomata. I  was  stationed  by  the  general,  surrounded 
by  a  respectful  crowd,  the  band  facing  us.  The 
officers  saluted  us.  My  faith  !  I  bowed  in  return — 
they  had  been  presented  to  me  !  It  would  have 
been  more  soldier-like  to  have  left  my  hat  on  my 
head,  but  I  am  a  President  of  the  Republic — don't 
forget  that.  The  general  had  the  cavalry  file  by 
again  on  the  trot,  that  I  might  remark  the  general 
effect  of  their  appearance.  It  was  capital.  But  I 
noticed  there  were  but  few  officers  present — half  of 
them  are  away  on  leave.  They  are  under  no  especial 
pressure  in  England  ;  provided  they  turn  up  in  time 


70  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

for  the  war,  or  for  the  great  manceuvres,  they  may 
pass  the  rest  of  the  time  on  the  Continent. 

Then  the  battle  began,  the  scouts  thrown  out  in 
front.  We  gained  a  height  already  occupied  by  the 
artillery.  Horizon  of  superb  extent.  The  first  dis- 
charge of  artillery  took  us  in  the  rear  and  was  an 
agreeable  surprise.  The  snap  and  splutter  of  the 
fusillade  awoke  an  echo  in  a  wood  across  the  river 
in  front  of  us.  Our  entire  first  line  deployed  for 
skirmishing;  the  second  line  advanced  supporting 
it  on  the  left,  the  reserve  behind.  The  fusillade  re- 
doubled. We  retired  in  good  order;  the  artillery 
descended  a  rough  slope,  the  horses  squatting  on 
their  hams  slid  down  with  the  piece  on  their  backs ; 
the  officers  set  off  at  a  gallop  along  the  sharp  de- 
clivity covered  with  heath  and  gorse.  We  fell  back 
upon  a  second  position  which  was  well  chosen. 
The  cavalry,  in  ambuscade,  appeared  from  behind 
a  knoll  and  advanced  across  the  plain  ;  at  three 
hundred  metres  the  hussars  and  lancers  charged 
the  enemy  at  a  gallop  and  threw  themselves  upon 
them.  Their  order  was  not  good ;  there  was  a  jam 
in  the  centre  and  a  thinness  in  the  wings — the  lack 
of  officers  made  itself  felt.  Happily  there  were  still 
the  dragoons  in  the  second  line ;  their  charge  was 
better ;  the  enemy  retired,  our  right  advanced  and 
outflanked  them.  With  an  admirable  courage  we 
moved  forward  eveiywhere  in  the  teeth  of  the  firing. 
We  found  the  general  in  the  midst  of  a  cloud  of 
smoke ;  the  victory  was  ours  and  night  was  falling. 
Cease  firing!  The  troops  formed  again  and  came 
back,  with  the  bands  playing  national  airs  :  La  Belle 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  7 1 

Helene,  Les  Pompiers  de  N ant  err  e  !  It  made  me 
heavy-hearted — made  me  think  of  the  wretched 
retreats  of  our  own  unhappy  soldiers. 

I  returned  with  the  general,  who  absolutely  wanted 
me  to  declare  that  the  Due  de  Broglie  is  for  mon- 
archy. He  is  against  the  communists  and  their 
accomplices  or  their  dupes,  .  .  .  We  reached  the 
9///  Queen  s  Royal  Lancers*  mess — a  sort  of  *^  box." 
My  companion  did  not  perceive  that  the  lancer  who 
hurried  forward  to  relieve  him  of  his  horse  was  an 
officer ;  he  was  presented  to  him  an  instant  after- 
ward— it  was  Lord  Beresford  !  ^ 

At  the  mess  the  cooking  is  a  little  too  Indian  or 

English,  but  the  reception  is  cordial.    Our  hosts  did 

not  leave  us  till  we  were  in  the  train  on  our  way 

back. 

London,  December  28,  1871. 

There  is  in  London  a  "  Boxing-Day," — the  day 
after  Christmas.  And  then  there  is  Christmas  itself, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  call  it  a  saturnalia.  The 
morning  papers  all  print  articles  a  column  and  a  half 
long,  advising  the  people  to  beware  of  bringing  on 
themselves  an  indigestion.     It  is  meat-day. 

Yesterday  evening  we  went  to  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
in  the  Strand.  Always  the  same  grossness  in  the 
execution,  the  same  exaggeration  in  the  by-play  and 
the  exclamations,  the  same  heavy-handed  indecency 
in  place  of  sprightliness  and  pleasantry. 

There  is  a  total  absence  of  everything  that  con- 
stitutes dramatic  art — there  is  neither  conception, 

1  Lord  Beresford,  W.  Leslie  De-la-Poer,  son  of  the  Marquis  of 
Waterford. 


72  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-,  [1871. 

nor  continuity,  nor  verisimilitude.  It  is  all  as  dis- 
cordant as  the  colors  they  bring  together  in  their 
toilets  or  as  the  edibles  they  mix  in  the  same 
plate.  In  the  "  Bells,"  an  adaptation  of  Chatrian's 
romance,  they  have  hit  on  a  device  (by  means  of  a 
dream  represented  on  the  stage)  for  being  present 
at  the  murder,  at  the  death  of  the  victim,  at  the 
agony  he  suffers — not  without  an  accompanying 
outcry  of  horror  on  the  part  of  the  dreamer ;  then 
they  make  him  die  a  second  time  on  the  stage  on 
his  awakening,  sparing  none  of  the  details  that  in 
my  judgment  are  plain  horror  and  sacrilege. 

Afterward,  a  funny  piece,  out  of  Pickwick  Papers, 
a  story  by  Dickens  :  caricatures  that  depart  so  widely 
from  the  truth  that  they  do  not  make  one  laugh. 
A  caricature  is  droll  only  on  the  condition  that  it  re- 
sembles its  model ;  one  has  to  feel  the  reality  beneath 
it  all  before  one's  mirth  is  stirred.  The  authors  and 
actors  undertook  to  represent  a  sort  of  swindler, 
who  persuaded  an  old  maid  to  elope  with  him.  He 
looked  and  acted  like  a  pickpocket  pure  and  simple ; 
he  was  dressed  like  a  beggar,  without  a  shirt,  and  in 
a  coat  that  looked  as  if  he  had  found  it  kicking 
about  the  street.  That  is  not  the  costume  in  which 
^'Knights  of  Industry  ''  present  themselves  and  make 
their  way.     That  sort  of  thing  is  for  me  too  broad. 

I  have  forgotten  again  and  again  to  tell  you  a 
queer  thing  that  happened  to  me  when  I  was  behind 
the  scenes  in  one  of  the  theatres  in  Whitechapel. 
A  crowd  had  to  be  represented  on  the  stage,  and 
the  best  way  to  represent  it,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
management,  was  to  send  on  the  miscellaneous  public 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  73 

and  employees  that  were  encumbering  the  side- 
scenes.  It  was  in  this  way  that  I  came  to  cross  the 
stage  on  a  run,  representing  realistically  one  of  the 
rushes  familiar  to  the  bands  of  pickpockets  who  ex- 
ploit the  crowds  of  London. 

London,  December  30,  1871. 

We  have  passed  a  night  of  somewhat  sombre 
interest  in  and  about  the  London  slums.  Vernon 
went  with  us.  The  party  began  with  a  dinner  in 
which  we  all  figured  as  toughs.  I  fairly  believe 
that,  with  my  short-pipe  in  my  button-hole  instead 
of  a  flower,  I  took  the  prize. 

Here  is  a  report  of  our  excursion : 

From  Belgrave  Square  to  Whitechapel  the  way 
is  long,  but  not  sufficiently  so  for  the  contrast  be- 
tween these  two  parts  of  the  world.  You  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  part  of  London  in  which  an  in- 
come of  a  hundred  thousand  francs  per  year  con- 
stitutes  no  more  than  a  modest  competence :  come 
here  with  me  and  I  will  show  you  where  shelter  for 
the  night  can  be  had  at  threepence,  and  a  week's 
lodging  for  fifteen-pence. 

It  was  dark;  a  three-quarters  of  an  hour  rapid 
drive  through  the  streets — sombre,  endless,  eternally 
alike,  and  we  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  noise  and 
light.  We  were  in  the  district  of  the  extremes  of 
misery  and  debauchery.  Our  appointed  meeting- 
place  was  a  police-station. 

A  man  whose  nose  somebody  had  just  smashed 
with  his  fist  (a  policehian  was  washing  the  blood 
from  his  face),  gave  us  a  foretaste  of  the  sort  of 


74  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

place  that  we  had  entered.  We  visited  the  police 
cells ;  in  one  place  we  found  a  drunken  man  stretch- 
ed on  an  inclined-plane  skilfully  adapted  to  conjure 
away  the  consequences  of  his  disorder  ;  in  another 
place,  a  lot  of  unhappy  wretches  comfortably  shut 
away  till  (sometime  within  four-and-twenty  hours) 
they  shall  be  produced  before  a  magistrate.  Two 
employees  of  unimpeachable  bearing  and  politeness 
took  us  in  hand  to  show  us  the  way  and  to  protect 
us  in  our  excursion  through  the  circles  of  hell. 

A  theatre  stood  at  the  door.  Not  less  than  three 
thousand  spectators,  of  every  color  and  of  every 
odor,  were  shut  into  a  house  of  papier-indch^  that  a 
match  trampled  under  foot  would  have  converted 
into  a  fine  auto-da-f^ !  At  the  rate  of  threepence  a 
head,  the  public  is  admitted  to  the  enjoyment,  for 
three  or  four  hours,  of  a  sort  of  Italian  farce,  which 
is  neither  more  nor  less  brutal  than  those  one  pays 
ten  shillings  a  place  for  at  the  best  theatres.  We 
visited  in  the  same  way,  during  the  course  of  the 
evening  up  to  eleven  o'clock,  four  or  five  theatres 
or  music-halls  (and  there  were  others  that  we  passed 
by),  and  all  were  full.  In  all  of  them  the  entre- 
preneiir  makes  a  fortune.  In  Whitechapel,  too,  the 
people  have  money  in  their  pockets.  And  they 
have  a  taste  for  the  arts.  There  was  one  hall,  or 
rather  a  barn,  in  which  wax-figures,  after  the  man- 
ner of  those  of  Mme.  Tussaut,  were  on  exhibition, 
and  where  they  magnetized ;  there  you  sav/,  side  by 
side  with  the  Queen  and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the 
criminals  and  rascals  of  th£  day.  All  they  have  to 
do  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times  is  to  put  Cavour's 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  75 

wig  on  Benedetti,  or  Napoleon  Third's  on  William. 
But  how  do  all  these  people  live  ?  From  the  door 
of  the  theatre  we  went  to  the  lodging-house  quarter, 
by  a  number  of  obscure  lanes,  in  which  I  stumbled 
more  than  once  on  the  unevennesses  of  the  way. 

For  three-pence  you  can  buy  a  place  to  lie  down 
for  the  night.  In  one  place  men  only  are  admitted, 
in  another  women  only  ;  a  bit  further  on  they  take 
in  everybody — the  whole  family,  the  children,  and 
the  dog.  You  go  first  into  a  sort  of  common-room, 
with  a  great  fire,  in  front  of  which  some  of  the  guests 
dress  their  sores,  some  broil  their  herrings.  There 
are  tables  about  the  room  and  people  sitting  at 
them  eating,  or  playing  cards,  or  reading  a  news- 
paper, or  (some  women)  working. 

The  employees  are  generally  repulsive-looking : 
gin,  misery,  personal  uncleanliness,  and  vice  have 
set  their  mark  upon  the  faces,  and  it  is  the  fairer 
half  of  the  human  race  that  in  especial  turns  one 
sick.  Still  their  behavior  is  better  than  at  Miracle 
Yard  :  gentlemen  may  come  with  impunity  to  fatten 
their  curiosity  on  the  spectacle  of  all  this  misery ; 
people  bow  to  them,  say  good-evening  to  them — no 
doubt  in  a  measure  because  of  the  Police-Inspector, 
they  all  know,  who  accompanies  them.  He  in  his 
turn  knows  them,  and  whenever  he  stepped  into  a 
new  place,  he  took  care  to  say:  **  These  are  work- 
ingmen  ;  these  are  vagabonds ;  these  are  robbers  of 
the  worst  sort ;  there  is  a  man  just  out  of  prison, 
there  is  another  whom  we  have  not  yet  succeeded 
in  catching  en  flagrant  dditP 

Every   lodging-house    has    its   line   of    patrons ; 


76  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

some  of  them  are  not  disreputable.  We  visited 
one  to  which  three  hundred  workingmen  come 
every  night  for  shelter,  more  than  two-thirds  of 
whom  are  habitues.  They  are  not  permitted  indeed 
to  take  anything  but  their  clothes  with  them  into 
the  dormitory  ;  but  lockers  are  provided  in  a  room 
apart,  which  enable  them  to  acquire  property  and  to 
become  almost  indefinitely  superior  to  the  nomads 
who  go  away  in  the  morning  with  no  associations 
to  bring  them  back. 

There  are  in  London  fourteen  thousand  of  these 
lodging-houses ;  they  receive  every  night  thirty 
thousand  people.  Thanks  to  the  surveillance  of  the 
police,  though  the  common-rooms  are  pestilential, 
the  dormitories  are  relatively  clean,  the  walls  are 
rigorously  whitewashed  and  the  ventilation  what  it 
should  be.  Each  bed  has  a  regulation  mattress  and, 
in  the  fourpence  houses,  a  blanket  covered  with 
inscriptions ;  you  couldn't  carry  off  a  piece  as  big 
as  your  two  hands  without  its  everywhere  testifying 
against  you  that  it  had  been  stolen  from  such  and 
such  a  lodging-house.  It  seems  that  the  proprietors 
of  these  places  do  not  lose  either  their  goods  or 
their  time.  They  showed  us  one  of  them  who,  after 
eighteen  years  of  hospitality  at  threepence  a  night, 
has  become  the  possessor  of  a  nice  place  in  the 
country  and  is  willing  to  dispose  of  his  beggarly 
clientage  for  three  thousand  pounds. 

As  our  visit  took  place  the  day  after  Christmas, 
in  all  the  halls,  even  those  frequented  by  the  least 
edifying  classes,  the  walls  were  covered  from  top  to 
bottom  with  holly,  with  sprigs   of  evergreen,    and 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  77 

ornaments  in  paper;  and  in  the  midst  of  these 
festoons,  and  framed  by  them,  were  inscriptions — all 
of  them  Christian,  and  without  admixture  of  politics, 
except  for  blessings  on  the  Queen,  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  Ministers.  The  proprietors  and 
their  wives  even  are  not  without  responsibility  for 
these  pious  invocations.  In  one  of  the  lowest  hov- 
els we  had  the  curiosity  to  ask  who  had  presided 
over  this  decoration  and  who  had  paid  for  it — the 
expense  being  some  fifty  francs  or  thereabout ; 
well,  the  proprietor  had  contributed  twenty-seven 
francs,  the  beggars,  vagabonds,  street-vendors,  and 
robbers,  who  composed  the  rest  of  the  company, 
had  handed  in  their  pennies  to  make  up  the  rest. 
There  was  something  distinctively  English  even  in 
the  dregs  here  of  society.  But  we  had  not  yet 
touched  the  bottom  ;  vice  and  misery  had  revela- 
tions  still  in  store  for  us. 

We  went  out  into  the  deserted  streets  again 
where  you  meet  nobody  but  stragglers  now  and 
then  from  some  public-house,  men  or  women,  in 
either  case  equally  drunk.  We  made  our  way 
toward  the  Thames,  to  St.  George's  in  the  East.  It 
was  nearly  midnight.  The  narrow  lanes  were  wide- 
awake, lit  up  by  half-open  doors.  People  were 
drinking,  dancing :  flags  of  all  colors  notified  us 
that  we  were  in  the  sailors'  quarters.  We  pushed  a 
door  open  and  at  the  counter  saw  a  modest-looking 
woman  ;  the  police  who  accompanied  us  assured  us 
she  is  above  reproach  ;  that  she  should  be  so  is 
made  a  condition  precedent  of  granting  her  a 
license.     She  show^ed   us  the  way  to   a   dance-hall 


78  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1871. 

where  the  most  frightful  specimens  of  femininity 
were  waiting  to  be  invited  to  waltz.  That  evening 
there  is  not  much  dancing ;  it  was  Friday,  and  the 
sailor  in  all  countries  alike  is  out  of  money  on  the 
eve  of  his  weekly  pay-day.  Often  when  we  went  in 
we  found  music  only ;  they  were  places  whose 
dance-licences  had  been  revoked,  on  the  ground  that 
the  dancing  had  degenerated  into  something  else. 

We  rested  a  bit  in  one  of  these  establishments  in 
the  presence  of  a  savage  who  swallowed  fire  at  our 
instance  and  gave  it  out  again  in  tubes  which  came 
out  of  his  intestinal  furnace.  What  then  were  we 
yet  to  see  ?  I  spare  you  a  description  of  the  resorts 
to  which  the  chorographers  of  the  Prussian  Eagle 
and  Fire-eater  retired,  when  the  door  of  the  house 
closed  after  them  and  their  companions. 

It  was  one  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  what  could 
there  be  for  us  still  to  see  ?  Our  guides  started  on 
once  more ;  we  were  lost  in  a  labyrinth  of  sombre 
streets,  eternally  alike.  The  height  of  the  houses 
and  of  the  stories  was  singularly  reduced,  but  the 
model  was  always  the  same,  the  depressing  square 
box  with  holes  in  it,  that  from  Baker  Street  to  St. 
George's  in  the  East  constitutes  the  highest  product 
of  the  English  genius  in  the  line  of  architecture. 
In  place  of  open  squares  you  find  narrow  courts 
entered  by  obscure  passages.  We  went  forward  in 
the  suspicious  darkness.  In  front  of  a  ruined, 
tumble-down  house  our  guide  stopped  and  called. 
A  voice  from  the  interior  replied  ;  and  we  entered  a 
door  and  climbed  with  hands  and  feet  a  sort  of  rope- 
ladder  that  ended  above  in  a  hovel.     A  strong  and 


iS/i.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  79 

peculiar  odor  mixed  with  the  natural  evil  smell  of 
the  place  fairly  choked  us  as  we  entered.  For  the 
rest,  the  place  was  small  and  we  went  in  one  by  one 
to  the  side  of  a  couch  that  occupied  the  biggest 
part  of  it.  By  the  glimmer  of  a  sort  of  night-lamp 
we  perceived  what  looked  like  the  posts  of  an  an- 
tique bed  but  they  were  badly  out  of  line  and  seemed 
to  be  there  only  to  bear  witness  to  the  misery  and 
disorder  of  the  place.  Hard  by  the  night-lamp, 
seated  on  some  rags  a  woman  smoked  a  cigarette 
and  by  her  side  against  the  wall  lay  a  man  wrapped 
up  in  what  had  been  a  blanket.  His  head,  and  such 
portion  of  his  clothing  as  was  visible,  showed  him 
to  be  a  native  of  the  land  where  opium  is  grown. 
His  eyes  were  open  but  he  saw  nothing  ;  his  face 
wore  an  expression  of  complete  beatitude ;  he  gave 
no  sign  of  life  except  that  he  breathed  noisily, 
giving  his  hostess  to  understand  that  he  wanted  to 
smoke  again.  She  carefully  prepared  a  bamboo 
instrument,  put  one  end  of  it  into  his  mouth  and  lit 
the  opium  at  the  other  end  with  the  candle.  The 
Hindu  drew  in  two  or  three  puffs  and  went  off  into 
another  ecstasy.  The  old  woman  filled  a  pipe  then 
for  herself,  and  drew  at  it.  She  bore  it  better  than 
the  Hindu,  who  is  a  beginner.  She  told  us  that  she 
has  been  for  twenty  years  a  victim  of  the  vice  by 
which  she  now  earns  her  living.  Opium  is  killing 
her,  but  she  lit  her  pipe  once  more  while  we  were 
talking  to  her.  ^^  How  old  should  you  say  she  is  ?  *** 
one  of  our  guides  asked.  We  said  **  sixty.**  "  She 
is  barely  thirty-five." 

We  saw  a  light  next  door  and  there  we  found  ^ 


8o  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

full-blooded  Chinaman  on  a  divan.  He  was  dressed 
though  in  rags  and  tatters,  of  a  mode  distinctively 
English  and  was  employing  a  Christian  tongue  in  the 
service  of  oriental  corruption.  At  his  elbow  v/ere  a 
Chinese  tray,  a  candle,  a  bamboo  pipe  and  doses  of 
opium  of  various  prices  from  threepence  up.  This 
wretch  supplies  the  black  smoke  to  others  still 
wretcheder  than  himself;  the  "joint''  he  keeps  is 
a  house  of  refuge  open  the  whole  night  through, 
where  one  may  purchase  ecstasy  at  so  much  a  penny 
and  dream,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  hideous  dirt,  of 
the  paradise  of  Confucius  or  of  the  Fairies*  Kingdom. 
Opium  smokers  form  but  an  odd  chapter  in  the 
annals  of  misery  in  London.  They  amuse  the  curious, 
they  lend  themselves  to  romance.  Turn  the  page 
and  you  enter  on  the  chapter  of  misery  pure  and 
simple,  the  misery  of  unmitigated  hunger  and  cold. 
Our  little  promenade  in  hell  showed  us  nothing  more 
horrible.  We  saw  mud-houses  and  windows  minus 
window-panes ;  we  saw  houses  with  their  street- 
doors  off  their  hinges.  What  good  would  a  street- 
door  do  them  ?  There  was  scarcely  an  obstacle  of 
any  kind  opposed  to  our  stepping  right  into  the 
sleeping-rooms.  We  entered  and  surprised  people 
in  their  beds — families  who  paid  fifteen-pence  a  week 
for  their  shelter.  "  What !  does  anybody  rent  this 
garret  ?  *'  I  thought  as  I  stuck  my  head  into  a  sort 
of  hovel ;  I  couldn't  have  squeezed  my  body  in.  A 
woman  squatting  before  the  embers  of  a  coal-fire  rose 
from  her  bed — from  some  rags,  that  is,  on  which  she 
slept — at  the  sound  of  an  approach.  Something 
l^lack  covered  the  floor  about  her ;  it  looked  like  the 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON  81 

contents  of  a  rag-picker's  basket.  Under  this 
ruined  heap  three  children  lay  and  slept  through 
everything  the  sleep  of  the  blessed.  As  we  were 
going  out,  a  door  at  one  side  opened  and  a  wretched 
woman  thrust  out  her  head  and  hand ;  she  was  just 
out  of  jail  and  hoped  to  keep  out. 

We  might  have  prolonged  indefinitely  this  dismal 
round  of  lodgings  at  fifteen-pence  a  week;  but  the 
night  was  advancing  and  we  wanted  to  reach  the 
workhouse  in  Saint  George's  in  the  East  before  the 
occupants  had  left  their  beds.  As  we  were  setting 
out  for  it,  we  crossed  a  bridge  over  a  canal  coming 
out  on  the  London  Docks.  Our  guide  called  atten- 
tion to  a  policeman  on  duty  about  midway  across 
the  bridge.  "  He  is  there,"  he  said,  '*  to  keep 
women  from  throwing  themselves  off  into  the  water.'* 
It  is  a  favorite  spot,  it  seems,  with  the  victims  of 
debauchery.  Is  it  the  drink  in  them  that  drives 
them  to  suicide,  or  the  depression  that  follows  drink? 
Almost  every  night  there  is  an  attempt  at  precisely 
this  place  and  nowhere  else.  The  quay  rises  high 
above  the  water  and  the  current  below  is  strong ; 
the  parapet  once  cleared,  all  is  over — one  is  delivered 
from  the  past  and  from  a  still  more  frightful  future. 
It  is  to  prevent  these  unhappy  creatures  from  seek- 
ing to  discover,  at  the  bottom  of  the  water  beneath, 
the  oblivion  they  no  longer  find  in  the  bottom  of 
their  glass,  that  a  burly  policeman,  the  father  of  a 
family,  passes  there  eight  hours  a  night.  '*  What 
wages  do  you  get,  my  man,  for  this  unpleasant  job  ?  '* 
^^  Twenty  shillings  a  week.  But  I  am  only  on  duty 
every  other  night."     That  doesn't  pay. 


82  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1871. 

Finally  we  reached  the  workhouse.  Our  double 
knocks  roused  a  guard,  who  took  the  time  to  put  his 
uniform  on  before  he  opened  the  door.  The  work- 
house is  the  last  resort  of  those  who  have  lost  every 
penny  they  had  in  the  world  ;  if  they  had  a  farthing 
left  in  their  pockets,  they  would  not  be  admitted. 
On  condition  only  of  poverty  absolute,  they  may 
knock  at  the  door  and  it  will  be  opened  to  them. 
A  piece  of  bread  and  a  bowl  of  soup,  with  bits  of 
meat  in  it  are  waiting  for  them  ;  but  before  they 
are  admitted  they  have  to  submit  to  a  bath.  The 
new  arrival's  clothes  are  taken  from  him  in  a 
waiting-room  and  carried  off  to  be  fumigated,  and 
others  belonging  to  the  house  are  given  him  in  ex- 
change. When  he  has  dressed  himself  in  them  he 
climbs  up  to  a  dormitory  where  an  iron  bed  with  a 
barred  mattress  and  a  blanket  is  ready  for  him.  The 
place  IS  steam-heated  ;  ventilators  keep  the  air  pure  ; 
the  walls  are  whitewashed ;  the  cleanness  of  the 
floor  is  above  reproach.  Some  thirty  men  were 
sleeping  peacefully  when  we  were  there — old  men, 
young  men,  men  in  the  full  vigor  of  their  life — 
among  them  more  than  one  robber,  I  was  told. 
When  they  "  turn  out  *'  they  are  given  a  meal  of  the 
same  sort  as  on  their  arrival  the  evening  before. 
The  establishment  is  admirable — '*  luxurious  *'  I 
couldn't  help  calling  it  when  I  was  being  shown 
about  it.  Cleanliness  and  comfort  such  as  that  go 
beyond  what  mere  charity  obliges  us  to.  But  how 
does  it  happen  that  the  patrons  of  the  fourpence 
and  the  sixpence  lodging-houses  do  not  exchange 
their    suspicious   pallets    for    this   gratuitous    and 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  83 

comparatively  sumptuous  hospitality  ?  There  is  a 
regulation  :  the  exit  is  not  free,  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  work  to  be  done  in  the  morning  before 
the  guests  are  permitted  to  go  their  way — there  are 
stones  to  break,  or  oakum  to  pick,  or  logs  to  split. 
It  made  me  think  of  the  dog  that  carried  the  mark 
on  his  neck  of  his  master's  collar. 

As  we  were  coming  out  we  met  a  woman  with 
two  children  at  the  door.  She  had  come  from 
Barnes,  a  neighboring  town,  and  requested  shelter 
for  the  night.  She  was  very  poorly  dressed,  much 
worse  dressed  than  the  children.  Her  appearance 
and  the  replies  she  gave  to  the  inquiries  put  to  her 
indicated  that  she  was  a  respectable  woman.  The 
children  said  in  answer  to  our  questions  that  they 
had  been  to  school  and  were  beginning  to  learn  to 
write.  We  wanted  to  give  them  some  money,  but 
were  hastily  warned  not  to  do  so.  If  any  money 
should  be  found  on  her,  she  would  not  be  received 
— such  is  the  law.  We  bowed  to  the  word  which 
in  England  is  supreme.  May  it  ever  preserve  its 
magical  power !  Having  breathed  which  prayer 
with  a  profound  feeling  of  envy,  we  succeeded 
in  making  an  arrangement  with  the  guard  to  the 
effect  that  the  money  we  had  offered  should  be 
given  to  the  children  on  their  departure  the  follow- 
ing day.  To  avoid  the  law  is  in  some  sort  to 
respect  it. 

It  was  after  two  o'clock  and  high  time  we  turned 
back  toward  Belgrave  Square.  Rolling  home  in  the 
cab  I  found  myself  stirred  with  pity  at  the  spectacle 
of  so  much  misery  and  depravity,  and  with  admira- 


84  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [187 1. 

tion  for  the  energy  of  the  efforts  made  by  English 
society  to  reHeve  its  strayed  and  fallen  members. 


Bxtract5  from  tbe  IWotee* 

At  about  this  time  I  began  to  frequent  the  Athen- 
aeum, though  I  was  not  yet  admitted  to  it  on  a  per- 
manent footing  ;  it  was  not  till  later  that  I  succeeded, 
by  the  aid  of  my  friends,  in  avoiding  or  ignoring  the 
regulation  in  force  in  that  intellectual  caravansary 
which  excludes  all  resident  diplomats,  the  heads  of 
the  respective  embassies  only  excepted.  Still  I  was 
even  at  that  time  aspiring  to  become  acclimated  to 
its  chambers  and  to  dwell  there.  It  is  the  rendez- 
vous for  intelligence  of  every  sort,  the  confluence  of 
all  the  sources  of  information.  Men,  books,  papers, 
come  here  regularly  from  every  parish.  It  isn*t 
that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  talk  going  on  ;  quite  the 
reverse — everybody  is  at  home  there — has  his  own 
little  table  to  himself.  He  moves  about  a  bit  now 
and  then  from  one  table  to  another  to  exchange  a 
few  words  in  a  low  tone  with  some  acquaintance ; 
and  then  returns  to  his  own  place  to  read,  and  still 
to  read,  and  then  to  write  and  write.  A  great  part 
of  the  scribbling  that  floods  England  every  morning 
IS  done  there — articles  for  the  newspapers,  for  the 
weekly,  monthly,  quarterly  reviews.  How  many 
times — writing  myself  in  my  own  retired  spot — IVe 
watched  out  of  the  corner  of  my  eye  this  hive  of 
thinkers — noted  the  mixture  of  opinions,  the  most 
amusing  and  instructive  contrasts  and  juxtapositions 
in  the  world !     Here,  the  law,  the  church  at  one 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  85 

side,  the  Bible  minus  the  church  hard  by,  or  else 
Catholicism  and  Darwinism  side  by  side,  great 
explorers  and  members  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  the  House  of  Commons  or  the  House  of 
Lords  and  the  Cabinet.  All  of  them  make  their 
honey  in  the  Athenaeum — climb  ladders  to  hunt  out 
a  book,  descend  again,  exchange  a  word  as  they  pass 
each  other  by,  take  tea  on  their  writing-tables,  drop 
letters  in  the  box ;  and  when  the  sign  is  given  for 
collecting  the  mail,  their  activity  redoubles.  Few 
of  them  have  gained  the  right  to  trouble  the  silence 
by  talking  aloud.  My  old  friend,  Abraham  Hay- 
ward,  the  eldest  surviving ''  British  Essayist,''  notably 
possesses  it.  Towards  four  o'clock  you  see  him 
appear  in  the  great  reading-room.  His  day's  work 
is  done,  he  goes  from  table  to  table  trafficking  in 
news  and  recruiting  players  for  his  whist-table. 
(One  or  two  card-tables  are  tolerated  in  a  room  apart.) 
Toward  seven  o'clock  he  comes  back  again  to  pick 
up  company  for  dinner.  He  has  his  especial  table 
in  one  corner  of  the  vast  dining-room — it  is  often 
doubled  and  tripled  by  the  neighboring  tables  being 
drawn  up  alongside  of  it.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
talk  and  of  loud  laughter  in  that  privileged  corner — 
it  is  called  the  Hayivard  Corner.  People  sit  at  table 
there  long  after  their  more  silent  neighbors  have 
disappeared.  The  conversation  increases  as  the 
time  goes  on — the  voices  rise  higher ;  the  amiable 
and  impassioned  old  gentleman's  memory  is  in- 
exhaustible, but  he  grows  less  and  less  indulgent  for 
those  who  have  crossed  his  path  in  the  fields  of 
literature,    and    he   subjects    English   ears   (always 


S6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1871. 

chaste  in  a  public  place)  to  a  more  and  more  severe 
ordeal.  The  talk,  or  rather  the  dissertation,  sets 
out  from  literature  and  history,  parliamentary  and 
political  reminiscences  and  anecdotes ;  but  it  de- 
clines in  dignity  as  the  bottles  one  after  another  are 
emptied ;  the  supernatural  is  as  little  respected  in 
royalty  as  in  religion ;  and  it  becomes  annoying  to 
have  to  play  chorus  and  one  is  glad  to  gain  the 
door.  If  you  turn  back  after  dinner  to  the  silence 
and  solitude  of  the  luminous  vast  reading-room  on  the 
first  floor,  you  may  find  the  indefatigable  old  gen- 
tleman still  thumbing  books,  at  midnight,  and  hunt- 
ing for  their  marrow,  I  couldn't  take  my  oath, 
however,  that  he  has  not  snatched  since  dinner  a 
wink  or  so  of  restorative  sleep  (there  would  be  no 
lack  of  precedent  for  it),  nay,  that  he  has  not 
troubled  the  silence  of  the  temple  even  with  his 
snores.  You  have  to  get  used  to  it  here  ;  they  sleep 
everywhere  in  England,  and  snore  everywhere — on 
condition  only  that  they  don't  prevent  other  people 
from  hearing  themselves  speak.  I  have  sometimes 
seen  the  secretary  of  the  Club  obliged  to  intervene 
to  call  a  sleeper  to  order,  or  to  moderation  at  least. 
It  was  during  days  of  idleness,  of  solitude,  of 
spleen,  that  the  Athenaeum  possessed  for  me  an  espe- 
cial charm.  Fancy  a  Sunday  in  London  :  there  is 
a  fog  that,  penetrates  the  very  houses,  and  more 
than  that,  it  is  raining  and  the  streets  are  dead.  I 
reach  the  club  without  encountering  a  living  soul ; 
the  club  itself  is  deserted,  I  am  remote  from  every 
one  and  everything.  I  cannot  even  send  a  letter  to 
my  family  by  the  post.     I  install  myself  at  a  table 


1871.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  87 

in  a  retired  spot  in  the  library  ;  I  give  myself  up  to 
a  bitter  sense  of  solitude  and  isolation.  How  many 
things  have  crossed  my  mind  while  I  have  sat  star- 
ing mechanically  at  the  Nelson  on  the  top  of  Tra- 
falgar Column,  topping  the  neighboring  roofs,  or  at 
the  bust  of  Pope  on  the  bracket  opposite  me  !  I 
have  often  passed  hours  in  that  way — day-dreaming 
— letting  my  thoughts  wander  along  the  streets  to  my 
domicile,  or  along  the  library  shelves.  And  many 
times  I  have  mentally  run  over  the  treasures  that 
surrounded  me  without  being  able  to  make  up  my 
mind  which  of  them  to  take  down,  waiting  for 
chance  or  inspiration  from  on  high  to  come  to  my 
assistance,  and,  the  choice  at  last  made,  have 
drowned  my  cares  in  my  book !  I  have  not  in- 
frequently become  so  absorbed  in  my  self-imposed 
task  that  I  have  lost  all  sense  of  the  lapse  of  time  ; 
the  dinner-hour  would  pass  and  I  still  turn  the 
pages ;  my  eyes  would  give  out  and  I  still  wish  to 
read  ;  the  long  hours  of  the  solitary  day  would, prove 
too  short.  I  had  killed  the  time  so  effectively  as  to 
have  forgotten  the  necessities  of  life,  and  have  gone 
home  finally  to  bed  without  my  dinner,  the  mad  de- 
sire to  learn  something  having  taken  the  place  for 
the  time  being  of  the  somewhat  morbid  enjoyment 
of  the  desolation  about  me. 


THE  YEAR,  1872. 
Extracts  trom  tbe  Correspondence^ 

London,  January  6,  1872. 

Just  returned  from  the  opening  of  Parliament. 
It  is  a  very  unceremonious  affair.  Only  the  Lord- 
Chancellor  and  the  clerks  in  wig  and  gown,  and 
but  fifteen  peers  were  present.  An  aged  Master  of 
Ceremonies  came  officially  to  open  the  parliamentary 
"  lock,'*  and  the  members  surged  tumultuously  up 
to  the  bar,  close  on  the  heels  of  the  Speaker  who 
wore  a  wig  and  alone  was  grave  and  solemn.  There 
is  always  the  same  mixture  here  of  dignity  and  buf- 
foonery, ritual  and  go-as-you-please.  The  Queen's 
speech,  read  by  the  Chancellor  who  drawls,  aims 
always  to  say  as  little  as  possible. 

Yesterday  a  parliamentary  evening-party  at  Mr. 
Gladstone's.  The  members  of  the  cabinet  had 
dined  there  in  full  dress.  After  dinner  the  Queen's 
speech  was  read  and  sent  to  the  leaders  of  the  oppo- 
sition, who  had  met  at  the  same  hour  at  the  table  of 
Mr.  Disraeli.  That  is  ''  fair  play."  The  house  is 
agreeable  enough  :  some  works  of  art ;  the  candles 
set  on  top  of  the  sideboards  and  bookcases  alone 
took  me  a  bit  by  surprise.  I  am  beginning  to  be 
able  in  an  English  political  salon  to  turn  round  and 

name  the  faces. 
SS 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  89 

London,  January  18,  1872. 

London  is  beginning  to  revive,  windows  are  open- 
ing, carriages  are  being  brought  out,  and  a  few  invi- 
tations sent.  Yesterday  I  took  a  drive  through 
the  City.  It  is  the  part  of  London  I  Hke  best — the 
life  and  character  of  the  land  show  themselves  there. 
You  ought  to  see  the  City,  the  streets,  and  banking- 
houses  in  the  obscure  daylight,  in  the  midst  of  the 
fever  of  business :  fog,  jostling,  mess,  congestion  of 
vehicles  in  the  streets — it  is  horrible  to  see,  to  feel, 
to  hear.  You  ought  to  go  into  the  little  lanes 
where  the  great  tall  houses  are — the  banking-houses 
through  which  all  the  gold  on  earth  circulates  in 
the  course  of  the  day  without  a  single  shilling 
remaining  unaccounted  for. 

I  went  to  pay  a  call  on  the  old  Baron  ^  in  his  den  in 
St.  Swithin's  Lane.  Don*t  look  for  the  Baron's  office 
in  one  of  the  great  thoroughfares  that  are  easy  to 
find.  A  long  passage,  a  carriage  would  so  com- 
pletely block  up  that  a  man  could  barely  squeeze 
by,  brings  you  to  an  obscure  solid  old  mansion.  The 
lane  reminds  one  of  Venice  ;  the  solidity  of  the 
house  and  the  inhospitable  look  of  the  neighborhood 
are  Florentine,  and  the  Baron  also  who  spends  his 
days  there,  belongs  himself  to  the  aristocracy  of 
wealth  that  founded  the  grandeur  of  those  two  me- 
diaeval governments.  Every  day  he  sits  at  his  table 
from  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  seven  in  the 
afternoon.  No  chairs  are  provided  for  visitors: 
standing  discourages  long  interviews,  unless  one  sits 
on  the  table,  as  I  did.  Two  or  three  ofifices  to  right 
1  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild. 


90  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

and  left  are  occupied  by  his  sons.  The  paralysis  in 
his  legs  which  keeps  him  fast  in  his  rolling-chair  is 
in  sharp  contrast  with  the  activity  of  his  mind  which 
interrupts  his  conversation  from  minute  to  minute 
to  reflect  upon  the  state  of  the  courts  of  Europe, 
and  to  give  orders  accordingly.  The  face  is  a  fine 
one,  but  the  impression  of  it  that  abides  with  one  is 
that  of  something  inexorable  as  a  mathematical  cal- 
culation. When  I  thanked  him  for  the  damages  the 
railway  company  had  awarded  me  for  my  lost  travel- 
ling-bag, "  Yes,''  he  said,  "  they  gave  you  three 
hundred  francs.''  The  amount  came  to  him  at 
once  out  of  the  billions  he  has  dealt  with  since. 

One  of  his  sons,  after  offering  me  a  glass  of 
sherry,  took  me  over  the  establishment.  What 
discipline  !  A  great  hall  with  fifty  or  sixty  em- 
ployees in  it,  abstracting  letters,  all  of  them  busy 
and  silent.  Nobody  communicates  with  his 
neighbor.  There  is  no  chief,  or  at  least  no  other 
chief  than  the  Baron  and  the  son  who  opens  the 
letters  and  directly  oversees  the  work.  Although 
there  is  a  French  department,  there  is  not  a  French- 
man in  the  house.  There  are  a  good  many  Germans. 
This  preference  is  not  an  affair  of  sentiment ;  it 
must  be  that  the  French  are  a  less  safe  investment. 
The  employees  are  appointed  for  life  when  they  have 
once  passed  the  door.  They  begin  at  two  thousand 
francs,  and  there  is  no  upper  limit.  Their  salary 
rises  with  their  ability.  From  the  Correspondence 
Department  I  was  taken  to  that  of  "  coupons," 
which  they  there  detach,  verify,  and  put  up  in 
packages.      Thence   to   the    counting-house ;     you 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  91 

cannot  see  it  except  from  the  inside  :  an  iron  structure 
three  stories  high,  protected  by  walls  nine  feet 
thick.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  surrounded  by  a 
moat  as  some  of  the  other  monetary  fortresses  in  the 
City  are,  but  a  portcullis,  an  iron  door,  cut  us  off 
from  possible  robbers.  There  was  nothing  lacking 
but  a  drawbridge.  It  is  by  gaslight  that  you  visit 
this  pawnshop  for  crowned  heads.  In  passing,  my 
eye  caught  a  little  leather  vaHse  with  the  name  of 
M.  Thiers  on  it :  like  the  great  strategist  he  is,  he 
takes  pains  to  secure  his  retreat.  I  do  not  blame  him 
for  it.  ...  I  took  my  leave  much  edified  and  rather 
envious.  If  the  public  business  had  been  adminis- 
tered in  that  spirit  we  should  not  be  where  we  are. 

London,  February  16,  1872. 

Yesterday  evening  we  went  to  Parliament  to  the 
beautiful  chamber  of  the  peers.  Although  it  is 
really  new,  there  is  about  it  a  suggestion  of  antiquity  ; 
it  possesses  already  the  charm  of  reminiscence — a 
perfume  of  aristocracy.  The  Marquis  of  Salisbury 
has  a  fine  voice,  his  delivery  is  easy  and  distinguished, 
he  adjusts  his  efforts  to  the  importance  of  the 
debate  in  hand — you  feel  that  he  could  easily  do 
better  than  he  does,  he  is  an  orator.  The  cabinet 
has  had  a  narrow  escape :  it  expected  to  be  cen- 
sured by  eighty  votes :  it  had  a  majority  of  two. 
The  vote  cannot  be  reversed.  It  is  its  faults  that 
save  it.  "  It  has  set  us  in  the  mire,'*  Lord  Salisbury 
said,  "  for  the  credit  of  pulling  us  out  again.*' 
When  shall  we  possess  this  political  right-handed- 
ness? 


92  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

I  have  paid  a  visit  to  the  Baronne  de  Rothschild. 
I  found  an  unpretending  ease  in  her  manner  and  a 
total  absence  of  anything  approaching  the  character- 
istic haughtiness  of  the  parvenue.  I  met  Mr.  Dis- 
raeH.  He  said  but  one  thing  worth  repeating:  as  the 
reply  of  the  United  States  was  being  announced  as 
forthcoming  in  March  :  **  Ay,  the  Ides  of  March.** 
But  what  an  old  painted  Jew !  There  was  also 
Brunnow  who  said  to  me  :  "  Either  Bismarck  did  not 
know  what  a  billion  means  or  he  never  thought  you 
could  pay  it.'*  Nothing  else  happened.  This 
evening  we  are  going  to  hear  a  sermon  by  Cardinal 

Manning. 

London,  February  24,  1872. 

At  the  sermon  in  \h.Q  pro-cathedral dX  Kensington, 
I  was  much  struck  by  the  archbishop's  simple, 
sober,  dignified  delivery.  The  sermon  was  purely 
evangelical.  Then  I  heard  with  Vernon  one  of  the 
principal  High-Church  preachers,  the  Rev.  Body. 
He  possesses  lungs — sounds  the  accent  of  contro- 
versy something  too  monotonously.  Still,  it  was 
a  good  sermon — not  a  word  in  it  that  need  be  re- 
trenched. And  he  invited  us  at  the  close  to  come 
to  the  sacristy  and  communicate  our  objections.  I 
am  quite  proud — I  did  not  lose  a  word. 

I  spent  the  remainder  of  the  evening  at  the  house 
of  these  excellent  people.  Nothing  can  equal  their 
charity  in  their  church,  to  the  poor,  and  you  see  them 
now  in  the  field  for  us.  They  are  going  to  furnish 
the   banquet^  table   with  lords  and  colonels,  and 

1  The  annual  banquet  given  by  the  French  business  men  for  the 
benefit  of  works  of  charity. 


i872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  93 

purpose  giving  a  dinner  to  make  us  acquainted  with 
them. 

The  whole  town  is  covered  with  scaffoldings  set 
up  for  the  thanksgiving-celebration  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  :  nothing  else  here  is  being  attended  to.^ 

The  banquet  on  Monday  will  possess  an  addi- 
tional interest  because  of  the  Duke  de  Broglie*s 
speech. 

London,  February  24,  1872. 

An  interesting  evening  at  Lady  Waldegrave's.^  She 
knew  acquaintances  of  mine  and  chatted  with  me  a 
long  while.  She  is  a  very  clever  person,  and  with- 
out betraying  in  her  manner  any  consciousness  of 
doing  so,  gave  me  a  greal  deal  of  precious  information 
that  will  prove  of  use  to  the  Embassy.  I  had  a 
long  talk  afterwards  with  Fortescue  about  our 
affairs.  With  the  diplomatists  we  dwelt  on  the 
pleasures  and  fatigues  that  await  us  Tuesday. 
There  will  be  more  than  a  million  people  along  the 

^  The  Prince  of  Wales's  illness  had  preoccupied  all  England  for 
some  weeks  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else  ;  he  had  really  been  thought 
(and  with  good  reason)  to  be  beyond  hope.  This  ordeal  reawakened 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  an  affection  that  they  have  avowed  for 
him  in  spite  of,  or  perhaps  because  of,  his  defects.  He  is  a  heavy 
drinker,  a  great  eater,  a  man  of  pleasure,  impecunious,  but  a  "  good 
fellow  "  with  it  all,  obliging,  and  indisposed  to  trouble  either  the  min- 
isters or  the  Queen  by  meddling  with  the  government  or  with  party- 
politics.  A  great  thanksgiving  service  was  to  take  place  on  February 
twenty-seventh  at  St.  Paul's.  Up  to  the  last  moment  there  was 
some  doubt  whether  the  Queen  would  take  the  trouble  to  be  present 
at  this  royal  and  national  ceremony. 

2  Frances  Braham,  daughter  of  the  actor.  Married :  ist,  to  a  Walde- 
grave  of  illegitimate  birth ;  2d,  to"  Count  Waldegrave  ;  3d,  to  Sir  Har- 
court ;  4tli,  to  the  Hon.  Chichester  Fortescue,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade.     Died  in  1879. 


94  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1872. 

route.  London  is  all  covered  with  unpainted 
wooden  scaffoldings  to  be  rented  at  a  pound  a 
place.  All  business,  all  circulation,  will  be  inter- 
rupted. We  have  no  idea  of  so  universal  a  move- 
ment from  top  to  bottom  of  society. 

Yesterday  evening  at  eleven  we  arrived  at  Lady 
Cork's,  wife  of  the  Master  of  the  Hounds.  No  better 
French  is  spoken  anywhere.  A  large  house,  but  such 
taste  !  One  detail  is  enough  :  the  mirrors  are  framed 
in  festoons  of  bas-relief — arms,  fruits,  flowers,  any- 
thing you  like.  When  you  look  close,  you  find  it  is 
all  of  waxed  leather.  On  all  the  furniture  and  over 
the  doors  were  set  lines  of  candles.  All  the  seats  had 
been  removed  from  the  rooms  to  gain  space,  and 
eveiy  one  was  forced  to  stand,  so  as  to  occupy  less 
of  it.  The  guests  arrived,  took  the  mistress  of  the 
house  by  the  hand,  maintained  their  upright  posi- 
tion, and  that  was  all  of  it.  You  couldn't  see  any- 
thing of  the  person  in  front  of  you  but  the  neck  and 
shoulders.  If  they  were  pretty,  so  much  the  better. 
There  are  many  evening-parties  here  at  which  you 
don't  succeed  even  in  mounting  the  steps.  If  you 
are  clever,  you  run  from  door  to  door ;  you  elbow 
your  way  till  you  catch  the  eye  of  the  reporter  for 
the  Morni7tg  Post ;  that  done,  the  cup  of  pleasure 
has  been  drained. 

Gladstone  was  there  with  his  wife  and  daughter. 
As  I  was  talking  with  the  great  man  who  has  under- 
gone such  a  fall  in  the  public  esteem,  our  conversa- 
tion was  interrupted  by  the  press  about  us  and  we 
found  ourselves  face  to  face  with  ^*  an  old  fairy  " — 
the  wife  and  devoted  friend  of  Disraeli,  Viscountess 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  95 

Beaconsfield.  They  all  talked  together  like  the  best 
of  friends,  though  the  two  husbands  the  night  be- 
fore had  launched  at  one  another  the  most  violent 
and  bitterest  strokes  at  their  command.  But  that 
sort  of  thing  can't  last  much  longer  even  here.  The 
unhappy  Gladstone  squirms  like  an  enraged  lion 
under  the  icy  pleasantry  that  the  leader  of  the  con- 
servative  party  with  his  sepulchral  face  pelts  him 
with. 

To-day  we  tried  to  go  to  St.  PauFs  to  see  the  prep- 
arations. We  had  to  turn  back.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  it  was  Sunday,  there  was  a  solid  crowd 
from  Piccadilly  to  St.  Paul's,  the  carriages  so  jammed 
that  progress  was  impossible — they  will  be  there 
still  day  after  to-morrow.  And  all  to  look  at  the 
boards  and  scaffoldings  in  front  of  the  houses. 
Such  a  national  movement  such  an  outburst  of 
loyalty,  such  an  uprising  of  the  masses,  was  never 
before  seen.     The  crowd  will  number  millions. 

London,  February  26,  1872. 

This  evening  yet — that  is  to  say,  in  an  hour,  the 
banquet  will  come  off,  and  the  speech.  I  am  con* 
fident  that  the  Due  de  Broglie*s  tact  and  talent  will 
be  equal  to  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  speaking  at 
all  in  public  on  such  an  occasion.^     To-morrow   I 

1  The  Due  de  Broglie  did  preside,  as  M.  Gavard  expected,  at  the 
banquet  at  the  French  Hospital.  It  was  the  first  time  that  a  French 
ambassador  had  assisted  at  that  ceremony.  "  Under  the  Empire," 
M.  Gavard  says,  in  his  notes,  "  the  French  charities  in  London,  the 
Relief  Society  and  the  Hospital,  as  well  as  the  schools  and  the 
Refuge  founded  and  directed  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  Leicester 
Place,  were  under  a  ban,  because  the  Orleans  Princes  had  from  the 


96  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

shall  have  to  be  up  at  daylight  for  the  thanksgiving 
ceremony,  in  full  uniform,  in  a  carriage  with  eight 
springs,  and  valets  in  red  and  gold  and  yellow 
livery,  and  illuminations.  It  would  tickle  the  Re- 
public to  see  us  pass  by.  It  would  be  to  meet 
myself  in  such  a  rig  that  would  astonish  me  most.  I 
have  to  school  myself  not  to  laugh  when  I  see 
myself  in  such  company,  and  have  to  school  myself 
above  all  not  to  forget  my  lesson. 

London,  February  27,  1872. 

The  weather  was  fine,  the  Queen  came,  and  no 
accidents  happened  that  I  know  of.  Rule  Britannia  I 
At  break  of  day  we  were  on  foot,  we  were  not  too 
much  *'  guyed  *'  on  our  way  through  the  crowd. 
What  a  human  flood  as  we  drew  near  the  City — as 
foul  too  as  the  waters  of  the  Thames !  No  mob  is 

time  of  their  foundation  accorded  them  their  active  concurrence  and 
generous  assistance.  This  holding  aloof  moreover  fell  in  perfectly 
with  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  members  of  the  imperial  diplo- 
matic corps.  The  idea,  unhappily  enough,  was  that  a  Frenchman 
who  leaves  France  has  good  reasons  for  not  staying  at  home ;  the 
official  representatives  of  France  were  imbued  with  it,  and  adopted 
it  as  a  rule  of  conduct  to  ignore  the  French  colony  abroad.  From 
the  moment  he  arrived  in  London,  the  Due  de  Broglie  fell  back  on 
the  earlier  tradition  and  led  the  way  for  his  successors  by  presiding 
with  distinction  at  the  annual  banquet  at  the  Hospital.  A  great 
deal  might  be  said  for  an  institution  like  this  (annual  dinner),  which 
not  only  constitutes  an  advertisement  for  certain  good  people  who 
find  their  profit  in  it,  but  presents  one  also  with  an  opportunity  to 
mix  with  them,  to  get  them  out  of  their  ruts,  to  encourage  them, 
enlighten  them,  assist  them,  give  them  a  push  forward.  For  my 
own  part  I  did  not  relax  my  efforts  to  do  so  during  my  sojourn  in 
England ;  and  if  I  did  not  do  more  than  I  did  the  fault  was  a  lack 
of  time. 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  97 

like  an  English  mob  ;  the  signs  of  misery  are  so  un- 
mistakable. They  are  both  violent  and  humble 
under  the  blows  dealt  by  the  police ;  and  the  rag- 
bag reigns  among  them.  Our  national  blouse  is 
unknown  in  England ;  instead  of  this  garment  that 
hides  things,  they  dress  in  the  shabby  remains  of 
what  once  were  coats,  which  reveal  the  filth  and  the 
nudity  beneath.  Such  portion  of  the  gathering  as 
feared  being  mobbed  had  poured  into  the  houses  and 
scaffoldings.     I  never  saw  so  many  heads. 

By  eleven  o'clock  we  were  established  in  St.  PauFs 
in  a  draught  of  cold  air  that  douched  us  till  two 
o'clock.  At  length  the  bells  boomed  like  a  volley 
of  artillery,  and  the  Queen  arrived  and  came  in. 
She  was  received  with  the  royal  silence  that  the 
sacredness  of  the  place  and  the  majesty  of  her  office 
demanded — a  real  silence,  not  the  natural  silence  of 
a  void,  but  the  silence  of  seventy  thousand  people 
who  do  not  venture  to  breathe. 

All  the  royalties  filed  up  in  a  line  in  front  of  the 
public — the  Queen,  fat  and  short,  in  a  street-dress, 
with  a  discontented-looking  face  ;  the  Prince,  with 
his  already-recovered  air  of  prosperity ;  and  the 
Princess,  as  always,  beautiful  and  charming.  The 
music  was  grave,  the  sermon  not  too  long.  We  got 
back  in  time  to  go  to  Hyde  Park  to  see  the  return 
of  the  royal  cortege  in  the  midst  of  the  deafening 
enthusiasm  of  the  crowd. 

But  let  us  go  back  to  our  evening  party  ^  yester- 
day. It  was  a  complete  success.  The  Due  de 
Broglie  received  a  most  cordial  reception,  which,  after 

1  The  banquet  above  referred  to, 

7 


gS  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

he  had  spoken,  became  enthusiastic.  There  was  a 
veritable  uproar  when  he  touched  on  this  country, 
which  for  two  hundred  years  has  never  once  seen  the 
law  violated  by  the  caprice  of  a  Prince  nor  by  the 
violence  of  the  multitude.  Each  of  his  five  toasts 
was  a  work  of  art.  A  tolerably  exact  summary  of  it 
is  in  to-day's  Times.  The  difficulty  of  speaking  of 
M.  Thiers  he  very  tactfully  avoided  by  the  aid  of 
the  Sfevres-vase  sent  for  the  lottery,  and  then  he 
found  an  opportunity  to  speak  of  the  noble  use  the 
Orleans  Princes  were  making  of  such  remnants  of 
their  wealth  as  spoliation  had  left  them.  Vernon 
was  there,  and  brought  with  him  Colonel  Anson, 
who  responded  with  much  tact  and  warmth  to  the 
toast  on  the  army — a  loyal  nature,  simple  and  win- 
ning. We  had  also  a  Lord  Eliott,  ancient  diplomat 
though  himself  still  young,  and  a  Frenchman  in 
the  turn  of  his  tongue  and  his  wit.  He  gallantly 
proposed  the  Duke's  health. 

London,  March,  1872. 

The  ceremony  of  the  levee  interested  me  much. 
All  the  diamonds  in  England  filed  before  me,  and 
trains  to  make  a  peacock  jealous.  The  daylight  and 
the  current  of  cold  air  for  the  benefit  of  her  Majesty 
were  by  no  means  favorable  to  the  naked  shoulders, 
nor  to  the  color  of  the  noses  of  their  owners.  The 
Queen  was  as  gracious  as  she  could  be  toBernstorff,i 
and  then  !  ...  we  frantically  ducked  to  her  Majesty, 
and  by  a  series  of  side-steps  succeeded  in  regaining 
our  places  without  turning  our  backs  to  the 
1  Count  Bernstorff,  German  Ambassador. 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IJ^  LONDON,  99 

enemy,  and    formed   a   row  from  which   we  looked 

down  on  the  insignificant  press  of  peers  and  barons 

of  England  filing  by.     It  is  a  serious  duty  for  every 

one,  and   for  those  who  date   their  social  existence 

from  their  presentation,  a  great  day.     I  felt  a  certain 

sympathetic  embarrassment  for  the  first  of  them  I 

saw  drop  on  his   knees  to  kiss  the    Queen's  hand  ; 

and  when  a  lady  completed  in  the  same  way  the 

reverence  she  was  making,  I  was  still  more  distressed ; 

and  then,  when  the  Queen  kissed  the  young  ladies 

who  were  presented  to  her  for  the  first  time,  I  asked 

myself,  what  would  have  happened  if  the  Queen  had 

been  a  king?     But  how  do  I  know  I  did  not  dream 

it  all? 

London,  March  3.  1872. 

Was  at  a  great  dinner  yesterday  at  the  Roths- 
childs*, where  there  was  (what  is  rare  in  this  country) 
an  equal  display  of  luxury  and  of  good  taste.  We 
had  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  ^  there ;  he  chatted  with 
me  some  time.  Gave  me  good  words  on  the  French 
army,  which  had  often  been  engaged  three  to  one, 
and  then  he  cited  Bugeaud*s  saying  about  the  Eng- 
lish infantry:  ^^  Happily ,  it  is  not  numerous.** 
"  £/>/happily,'*  I  replied ;  and  we  parted  the  best  of 
friends. 

We  ate  valiantly,  and  the  wines  were  exquisite. 
Meyer  de  R.  asked  me  at  the  end  which  had  been, 
in  my  judgment,  the  best  dish? 

London,  March  14,  1872. 
I  have  become  one  of  the  list  of  great  people  who 
1  Field  Marshal,  Commander-in-chief,  born  in  18  19. 


lOO  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1872. 

have  appeared  at  Mr.  Gladstone's  and  at  Lady  Mar- 
garet Beaumont's.  I  simply  went  in  and  came  out 
again.  At  Gladstone's  I  picked  up  poor  Musurus, 
who  had  just  had  a  fall  and  broken  his  arm  in  three 
places.  I  put  him  into  a  carriage  with  a  doctor. 
At  Lady  Margaret's  I  found  the  same  set  coming 
as  I  was  to  get  their  names  inscribed  on  her  list. 

Immediately  afterwards  there  was  a  levee.  The 
Queen  was  more  gracious  to  us  than  usual.  She 
asked  the  Due  de  Broglie  for  news  of  his  son.  Her 
daughter  is  quite  handsome.  The  Duchess  of  Suth- 
erland, who  was  covered  with  diamonds,  stands  day- 
light well.  Here,  once  more,  the  diplomatic  corps 
piled  itself  up  in  a  heap ;  this  time  it  was  a  brilliant 
Hungarian.  He  got  mixed  up  with  his  boots,  or  his 
sabre,  or  his  attila,  and  finally  came  down  with  a 

thud! 

London,  March  16,  1872. 

The  Due  de  Broglie  shed  tears  and  choked  with 
sobs  when  he  tried  to  speak  of  Cochin.^  He  had 
done  so  much,  and  yet  so  little !  We  were  looking 
for  so  much  from  him  that  we  forget  he  has  left 
behind  him  a  well-filled  life.  But  he  had  many  dis- 
appointments, and  it  is  an  ill  chance  that  has  closed 
his  career.  He  too  has  been  taken  from  us  before 
his  time — he,  and  Montalembert,  and  Perreyve,  and 
P.  Gatry,  and  P.  Captier,  who  alone  were  able  to 
turn  the  high-souled  among  us  back  to  religion. 
What  are  the  designs  of  God  on  our  unhappy  land  ? 
Whatever  they  may  be,  w.e  must  bow  to  them  and 
pray.     The  poor  Duke  with  death  in  his  heart  is 

^  M.  Augustin  Cochin,  died  Prefect  of  Versailles, 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  loi 

obliged  to  make  ready  for  the  fete  to-morrow,^  and 
to  leave  Tuesday  for  Windsor,  ins'cead  ofrtakii;ig,  the 
road  to  the  cemetery  after  thp  body  of  his  friend. 

For  the  dinner  we  had  from^haur  to;h€)ur:to;3jetnd, 
out  fresh  invitations  in  place  of  those  that  were  met 
with  ^*  regrets.*'    No  Englishman  who  is  at  all  strait- 
laced  will  consent  to   work  his  horses  on    Sunday 
even  to  meet  a  Royal  Highness. 

London,  March  18,  1872. 

We  played  our  part  yesterday  ^  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  band.  It  went  off  nicely.  The 
Duke  of  Cambridge  at  the  appointed  hour  stepped 
out  of  his  carriage  upon  the  red  carpet  stretched 
across  the  sidewalk ;  red  liveries,  that  might  have 
made  Louis  XIV.  or  Babin  envious,  formed  a  line  on 
either  side  from  the  steps ;  the  Prince's  people  kept 
the  crowd  back  with  their  sticks  (I  don't  vouch  for 
this  detail,  but  it  is  part  of  the  prescribed  thing). 
All  honor  to  the  master  of  ceremonies  who  succeeded 
in  having  everybody  take  his  proper  place  at  table 
(this  is  for  me) ;  all  honor  to  the  cook  who  **  What 
a  pleasure,"  said  an  old  diplomatic /(?r/^,  "  to  be  able 
to  eat  like  this  two  hours  h  la  fraiK^aise  I  "  The 
strawberries  at  dessert  did  not  cost  less  than  three 
hundred  and  fifty  francs.  But  the  rarest  treat  was 
to  see  our  young  princess,^  sparkling  with  diamonds, 
receiving  perfectly  at  ease,  as  if  she  had  done  noth- 

1  The  Due  de  Broglie  was  to  give  a  dinner  the  following  day  to 
the  Duke  of  Cambridge. 

2  The  dinner  at  the  Embassy. 

2  Mile.  d'Armaille,  Princesse  de  Broglie. 


I02  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [  1872. 

ing  else  all  her  life,  the  homage  of  his  Royal  High- 
ni&5'on  he^r  righ^;,,  avid  of  the  Prime-Minister  on  her 
left."  She  made  he^d  all  evening  against  the  assaults 
.of:the"^^^hc4Gd;iplbmatic  corps,  and  that  too  with  equal 
grace  and  modesty,  a  bit  of  a  languishing  air  when 
she  bowed  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And 
the  ambassador  was  not  the  least  happy  person 
present.  He  forgot  his  grief,  and  admitted  that  it 
was  a  pleasure  to  have  so  fine  a  jewel  to  present. 
Nobody  failed  to  com.e,  not  even  the  German  am- 
bassador; the  trouble  was  rather  that  there  were 
not  invitations  enough  to  go  round.  In  effect,  it 
was  a  complete  success ;  it  will  be  talked  about,  and 
that  will  do  us  no  harm.  As  for  myself,  I  spent  the 
entire  evening  introducing  people  whose  names  I 

did  not  know.^ 

London,  March  22,  1872. 

Heavy  snow  and  thick  fog.  It  froze  and  melted 
at  the  same  time.  The  weather  was  frightful,  but 
everybody  was  out  in  it.  London  poured  out  to 
Putney  and  the  banks  of  the  Thames  by  every  road.^ 
From  Hammersmith  on,  to  right  and  left,  you  saw 
nothing  but  umbrellas — except  carriages,  some 
with  the  horses  taken  out  and  sent  to  some  place  of 
shelter,  some  with  horses  still  in,  and  the  passengers 
on  their  seats,  all  waiting  together  motionless  in  the 
falling   snow.     With   great   difficulty   and    by   the 

1  Soon  after  this  entertainment,  the  Due  de  Broglie  left  London 
for  France.  He  had  resolved  to  hand  in  his  resignation  in  order  to 
be  free  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  his  duties  as  a  Deputy.  M. 
Gavard  thus  found  himself  once  more  in  charge  of  the  Embassy  ;  a 
responsibility  that  lasted  from  March  24  to  June  7,  1872. 

2  To  witness  a  Cambridge- Oxford  boat-race, 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  m  LONDON.  103 

assistance  of  a  mounted  policeman  who  preceded  us 
and  jostled  everybody  out  of  our  privileged  way, 
we  reached  the  Cedars^  the  property  of  Mr.  Philips, 
a  brewer,  which  lies  at  the  very  end  of  the  race- 
course. The  tricolor  floating  at  the  side  of  the 
Queen's  standard  and  those  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  of  Denmark  announced  to  the  populace  that  we 
had  arrived.  The  house  makes  an  effort  at  elegance 
and  succeeds  in  being  at  least  very  comfortable  and 
rich.  It  was  abundantly  supplied  with  ladies  and 
*  swells.'  Everybody  ate  to  pass  the  time.  People 
eat  in  this  country  as  naturally  as  they  twirl  their 
thumbs  elsewhere.  The  wait  lasted  two  hours : 
everybody  ate  and  drank  for  two  hours  by  way  of 
getting  ready  for  the  final  luncheon.  Negroes  whose 
black  was  not  proof  against  the  rain  executed  mu- 
sical and  epileptic  marches.  The  crowd  laughed  its 
loud  laugh  and  forgot  how  slowly  the  time  passed. 
It  snowed  incessantly.  Suddenly  everybody  pushed 
everybody  else  and  closed  ranks;  the  signal  had 
been  given  four  miles  away,  and  I  braved  the  frost, 
too,  with  the  rest  of  them  and  shinned  up  the  garden, 
wall.  The  distant  roar  of  a  rising  tide  reached  us, 
increased,  drew  nearer ;  hats  were  waved  on  the 
stockades  and  as  the  boats  pulled  up  to  the  shore. 
As  yet  I  did  not  see  anything  except  some  pigeons 
that  were  loosed;  they  soared  away  carrying  the 
report  of  the  race  at  four  hundred  three  hun- 
dred and  two  hundred  metres  distance  from  the 
goal,  to  the  four  corners  of  Great  Britain,  nay, 
even  to  Greater  Britain,  for  the  telegraph  wires 
were  awaiting  them.     At  last  the  first  crew  hove  in 


I04  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

sight ;  I  fancied  I  saw  a  little  line  of  light-blue  on 
the  water — it  was  Cambridge.  The  deep  blue  fol- 
lowed it  three  lengths  behind,  and  was  gaining  evi- 
dently. The  Oxford  crew  had  been  disorganized 
some  days  before  by  the  illness  of  one  of  its  oars- 
men, who  had  to  be  replaced  by  a  man  not  in  train- 
ing ;  and  so  the  betting  was  two  to  one  in  favor  of 
Cambridge.  The  light-blue  came  in  first — but  none 
too  soon :  it  was  but  one  length  ahead.  And  then 
cheers,  flourish  of  trumpets,  and  pigeons  in  more 
senses  than  one.  But  attention  to  the  water! 
There  were  other,  more  formidable  craft  coming. 
It  was  the  City  that  headed  the  little  fleet  of 
steamers ;  twenty  of  them  followed  her,  whistHng, 
pouring  out  smoke,  blowing  off  steam,  to  try  and 
avoid  smashing  the  frail  skiffs  about  them.  Already 
the  victors  were  returning  in  the  midst  of  frantic 
cheers;  it  must  be  admitted,  though,  that  the  dark- 
blues  who  followed  them  were  not  less  cheered.  A 
magnificent  luncheon  was  awaiting  them — victors 
and  vanquished  alike — at  our  host*s.  We  were  not 
able  to  wait  for  it,  and  launched  ourselves  into  the 
chaos  of  vehicles  with  one,  two,  three,  four,  five 
horses.  Our  privilege  went  for  nothing  in  a  regular 
**  block.''  We  had  to  have  patience.  Our  ears  were 
greeted  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  with  which 
the  coachman  of  a  four-horse  omnibus  whiled  away 
his  time  by  producing  noises  fit  to  make  a  dog  howl. 
The  coachman  of  a  four-wheeler,  with  a  typical 
rubicund  face,  made  sententious  little  remarks  with 
a  truly  magnificent  indifference  under  the  melting 
snow.     Another  person  profited  by  the  occasion  to 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  lo^ 

demand  a  radical  reformation  of  Parliament  ! — and 
I  distinguished  by  the  intonations  of  a  fourth  that  he 
was  preaching  his  reHgion.  I  ought  to  add  that 
nobody  went  back  on  his  colors,  and  that  the  deep- 
blue  Oxford  ribbons  had  not  disappeared  from  the 
whips,  nor  the  button-holes,  nor  hats.  From  the  top 
of  society  to  the  bottom  everybody  takes  part  in 
this  contest ;  the  wretchedest  enter  into  it  with 
as  much  passion  as  the  blessed  of  the  earth  who  go 
to  see  their  sons,  or  the  representatives  and  inheritors 
of  their  ancient  university-rivalries,  contend.  It  is 
not  only  in  its  political  struggles,  it  is  also  in  its 
games,  in  its  national  passions,  that  English  society 
is  divided,  as  has  been  said,  not  by  horizontal  but 

by  vertical  sections. 

London,  March  23,  1872. 

Sir  Charles  Dilke^  being  about  to  renew  his  at- 
tack on  the  Queen*s  civil  list,  I  found  a  full  house 
at  Parliament.  The  members  even  flocked  into  the 
diplomatic  gallery,  where  they  were  indistinguish- 
able from  the  more  polite  gathering  of  their  hosts, 
except  by  the  privilege  of  wearing  their  hats  and  of 
shouting:  "Hear!  hear!'*  or  other  expression  of 
their  sentiments.  It  was  a  case  of  legitimate  reci- 
procity— I  have  myself  occupied  the  upper  gal- 
leries reserved  to  the  members  of  Parliament,  but 
always  with  my  hat  off. 

1  One  of  the  Members  for  Chelsea. 

2  **  The  sittings  of  ParUament  during  that  session,"  writes  M.  Ga- 
vard  in  his  notes,  "  took  up  a  regular  portion  of  my  time.  When- 
ever the  bulletin-boards  at  the  clubs  announced  an  interesting  sit- 
ting, I  was  as  regular,  either  before  dinner  or  afterwards,  in  my  at- 
tendance as  if  the  party  whips  had  come  to  my  house  to  rout  me  out." 


Io6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

Dilke  had  time  to  say  all  he  wanted  to ;  he  talked 
an  hour  and  a  half  without  a  pause,  without  a  sigh, 
without  an  "  Alas  !  "  or  a  *^  Halloo  !  *'  from  the  House. 
It  left  it  to  Mr.  Gladstone  to  express  its  sentiments. 
The  placidity  with  which  the  chief  of  the  cabinet 
had,  during  the  adjournment,  passed  over  the  at- 
tacks directed  against  the  Crown  by  the  member  for 
Chelsea  before  the  Newcastle  workmen,  was  no 
longer  the  fashion  after  the  Prince  of  Wales's  illness 
and  the  striking  manifestations  of  loyalty  on  the 
part  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Gladstone  found  accord- 
ingly a  flood  of  eloquence  in  which  to  confound  the 
imprudent  aggressor  against  the  Throne  ;  he  dem- 
monstrated  the  errors  the  so-called  instructor  of  the 
people  had  made  in  his  figures,  and  brought  out 
finally  into  sharp  contrast  this  counting  of  pennies 
and  farthings — this  appeal  to  the  smallest  of  our 
passions,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  institution,  the 
services  of  which  Sir  Charles  Dilke  alone  failed  to 
recognize.  The  House  went  farther  in  its  disappro- 
bation ;  it  lost,  as  it  sometimes  (not  often)  does,  its 
patience.  When  Mr.  Oberon  Herbert,  ^  brother  of 
Lord  Carnarvon,  rose  to  second  the  motion  of  Sir 
Charles  Dilke,  it  refused  to  hear  him.  The  scene 
was  perfectly  comic  ;  both  sides  struggled  for  more 
than  an  hour  with  an  equal  obstinacy.  Mr.  Herbert 
had  barely  uttered  the  sacramental  word :  ^^  Mr. 
Speaker,**  before  cries  of :  ^*  Divide  !  divide  !  di- 
vide!  ** — Aux  voix^  as  we  should  say — were  heard 
on  all  sides.  Economizing  accordingly  his  powers, 
and  adapting  his  efforts  to  the  length  of  the  struggle 
1  Son  of  the  third  Earl  Carnarvon, 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  107 

he  knew  he  was  engaging  in,  the  orator  gave  out  his 
words  syllable  by  syllable ;  each  of  them  raises  a 
tempest  of  cries ;  but  as  nobody  can  yell  continu- 
ously without  losing  breath,  and  the  instant  the  noise 
subsided,  the  imperturbable  speaker,  his  hands  in 
his  pockets,  pronounced  another  syllable  and  the 
tumult  began  again.  The  youngest  members  of  the 
party  being  the  ones  who  did  the  shouting,  distinct- 
ive cries  of  animals  soon  became  predominant  in 
the  chorus. 

The  Speaker  assisted  sadly  at  this  "  match,'*  to 
which  custom  forbade  him  to  put  an  end.  When 
those  who  were  making  the  interruption  perceived 
that  they  could  not  tire  out  an  adversary  who  drew 
on  his  resources  so  sparingly,  they  had  recourse  to 
divers  legal  ruses  that  are  permissible.  All  at  once 
a  member  rose  and  said  with  the  utmost  coolness 
that  he  did  not  believe  there  was  a  quorum  present. 
He  may  affirm  that  there  are  not  forty  members 
present,  in  the  face  of  more  than  five  hundred  of 
them  who  are  suffocating  with  indignation  and  rais- 
ing a  rumpus  that  can  be  heard  within  the  walls  of 
Westminster  No  matter ;  what  he  says  has  to  be 
verified — it  is  the  custom.  The  Speaker  rises  and 
begins  to  count  with  his  hat ;  but — a  miracle ! — 
everybody  has  disappeared — through  the  doors  per- 
haps, or  under  the  benches  !  Still,  the  matter  is  in 
doubt  ;  there  has  to  be  a  regular  count.  Thanks  to 
the  government,  which  must  keep  its  seat,  the  forty 
are  there.  The  crowd  reappears  like  a  resurrection 
of  the  dead  and  the  fight  begins  all  over  again.  At 
the   end  of   some  minutes   recourse  is  had  to  the 


Io8  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

same  expedient ;  the  trick  had  been  ill-done  before, 
they  hope  to  play  it  better.  Vain  hope  ! — the  forty 
are  still  there.  From  that  time  on  the  victory  of 
the  unconquerable  speaker  is  assured ;  the  only  con- 
cern now  is  to  deprive  him  of  the  advantages  that 
come  from  giving  his  words  publicity.  Some  mem- 
ber accordingly  rises  and  calls  the  Speaker's  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  there  are  strangers  present ; 
and  the  Speaker,  who  up  to  that  moment  had  not 
observed  our  presence  in  the  gallery  and  the  pres- 
ence of  the  journalists  above  his  head,  orders  us  to 
be  asked  to  go  out.  The  ladies,  more  fortunate  than 
we,  are  permitted  to  remain  because  technically  they 
are  not  in  the  hall,  being  separated  from  it  by  a  screen. 
Thanks  to  this  happy  and  transparent  fiction  they 
remained ;  and  it  was  no  doubt  through  them  that 
the  public  learned  this  morning  the  issue  of  this 
Homeric  struggle  of  one  against  many.  It  is  true 
that  the  one  had  the  right  on  his  side. 

London,  April  2,  1872. 

The  absence  of  the  ministry  and  of  all  possible 
intermediaries,  obliges  me  to  sit  with  my  hands 
folded.  What  a  mistake  it  is  to  believe  that  Eng- 
land is  a  land  of  business  !  They  are  country  people 
who  come  to  town  to  rush  through  public  affairs  in 
the  intervals  of  their  hunting-parties  and  their  sports. 
They  maintain  here  only  a  temporary  lodging  and 
when  they  are  in  town  are  solely  preoccupied  with 
making  the  machine  go  faster,  so  that  they  may  get 
back  to  their  pleasures  in  the  country.  Also  you 
ought  to  see  how  public  business  is  done ! 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  109 

Here  is  a  remark  of  my  chancellor  worthy  of  his- 
tory. I  had  just  reduced  an  expense  :  *^  That  is  a 
bad  precedent/'  he  said — **  it  is  an  economy." 

We  passed  the  day  at  Crystal  Palace.  It  is  the 
temple  of  vulgarity,  the  utter  negation  of  every  idea  of 
art  and  of  good  taste.  They  have  gathered  together 
the  cream  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  entire  world, 
and  made  of  them  the  most  sickening  collection 
conceivable  ;  and  more  than  that,  to  make  them 
shine,  they  wash  them  at  least  once  a  year.  They 
have  so  encumbered  the  gigantic  structure  that  you 
might  well  think  yourself  in  Madame  Tussaud's 
bazar.  It  was  *^  people's  day  '' ;  the  people  had 
come  to  eat  there — it  seems  the  people  eat  better 
there  than  elsewhere.  The  public  is  worthy  of  the 
palace.  How  homely  the  race  is,  on  holidays,  when 
the  Saxon  strain  comes  to  the  surface  !  My  young 
friend  was  much  amused  by  it  all,  and  in  especial 
by  a  menagerie  that  we  ran  across  between  the  Al- 
hambra  and  an  Egyptian  temple.  A  black  panther 
and  a  handsome  lion,  who  wanted  to  eat  their  neigh- 
bor, a  camel,  excited  our  admiration. 

London,  April  12,  1872. 

Yesterday  I  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  Minister, 
after  my  conversation  with  Lord  Granville.  Then  I 
hastened  back  to  Parliament,  where  I  was  much  di- 
verted by  the  spectacle  of  the  divisions.  When  the 
House  is  in  committee  there  is  no  Speaker,  the 
mace  is  under  the  table,  there  are  no  long  speeches, 
they  vote  often.  One  side  cries :  **  Aye  !  "  the  other 
follows   with    *'  No,"    which   they   call  out  all   the 


no  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  [1872. 

louder  because  they  are  in  a  minority.  As  the  re- 
sult is  regularly  contested,  the  "  ayes  ''  go  out  at 
one  door  and  the  '*  noes  *'  at  another,  and  then  the 
tellers  presently  return  and  bow,  and  I  fancy  an- 
nounce the  result  together. 

London,  April  25,  1872. 

Yesterday  at  four  o'clock  we  turned  out  in  a  cos- 
tume neither  one  thing  nor  the  other — black  coats, 
colored  cravats,  and  patterned  pantaloons,  but  with 
orders  and  decorations  on,  and  the  ladies  in  toilet  to 
match.  We  were  going  to  Buckingham  Palace  ;  the 
guests  numbered  two  or  three  hundred — a  select 
party.  Musicians  in  livery  were  stationed  on  the 
right — the  conservatory,  or  its  equivalent.  They 
might  have  played  whatever  they  liked,  for  there  was 
nobody  to  hear  them.  In  the  central  salon  were  a 
sentimental  tenor,  the  piano,  Mme.  Schumann,  the 
royal  family  seated  in  hierarchic  order ;  it  did  not 
occur  to  any  one  to  laugh.  Vast  sideboards  stood  in 
one  or  two  adjoining  rooms  ;  the  air  is  biting  in  this 
country,  and  you  have  to  eat  in  self-defense. 

The  Queen  moved  about  among  the  ranks  of  her 
subjects ;  the  long  habit  of  royalty  has  given  her  an 
air  of  dignity,  but  custom  has  done  more  for  her 
than  nature.  Everybody  stood  with  their  heads 
bowed  a  bit,  as  in  church ;  she  stopped  from  time  to 
time,  and  said  a  few  words  which  will  be  treasured 
up  and  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation. 
She  held  out  her  hand — not  to  me — that  would  have 
been  an  historical  event — but  with  marked  gracious- 
ness  to  a  sort  of  pagoda  at  my  side.     I  thought  it  was 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON,  \\\ 

an  old  rajah  of  India — it  was  the  Countess  Beacons- 
field.  Behind  her  stood  Lothair^  Conningsby^  the 
Jew^  Dizzy ^  sepulchral  as  always  in  his  old-fashioned 
costume  of  '*  Young  England  '* ;  there  is  a  sugges- 
tion of  oriental  tinsel  in  his  painted  face.  He  is  not 
amusing  except  when  he  is  baiting  Gladstone. 

The  last  effort  of  art  after,  or  rather  between,  the 
two  bands  of  music,  was  the  introduction  of  two 
Scotch  pifferari,  armed  with  double  or  triple  flutes. 
They  blew  on  them  fit  to  burst — the  dogs  are  gifted 
in  the  matter  of  lungs.  They  came  and  went  in  great 
irregular  strides,  and  blew  eternally.  It  was  as  much 
as  one's  life  was  worth  to  listen  to  them. 

We  are  going  to  witness  the  Queen  of  Prussia's 

visit  next  week.     The  prospect  of  meeting  her  is  a 

painful  one. 

London,  May  2,  1872. 

The  telegraph  informs  us  that  M.  Harcourt  has 
been  nominated.^ 

Colonel  Anson  is  in  a  bad  way;  he  has  ruptured 
a  blood-vessel  in  his  chest ;  it  looks  as  if  there  were 
small  chance  for  his  life.  He  is  a  splendid  fellow — 
the  best  I  have  met  in  England — and  congenial  as 
can  be.  Mrs.  Vernon  stays  continually  with  her 
friend.  Vernon  insists  on  taking  his  wife  to  Nor- 
way for  the  fishing.  "  The  breezes,"  he  says,  "  are 
so  good  for  people  with  delicate  chests.'* 

Yesterday  evening,  prima  sera,  that  is  to  say,  at 
eleven    o'clock,    we    went    to    Lady  Jersey's — the 

1  The  Due  de  Broglie  had  handed  in  his  resignation  as  ambassa- 
dor; his  place  was  filled  by  Comte  Bernard  d*Harcourt,  of  thp 
ducal  branch  of  that  family. 


112  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Peel.  There  I  met  a  lady  who 

classified  my  acquaintances  for  me — into  those  who 

sing  and  those  who  dance.     ^'  Whom  do  you  meet 

at  her  house  ? — Nobody  but  the  mob — you    never 

see  a  Tory  there !  **     "I  saw  Lord  Derby  there.'* 

**  Do  you  call  him  a   Tory?'*     For  the  rest :  It  is 

an  odd  sort  of  person  that  can  visit  Rome  without 

finding  herself   edified — vexed  that  she  met  none 

but  Piedmontese  in  society.     One  might  have  had 

some  talk  in  this  salon  if  there  had  been  time,  but 

we  had  to  break  off  in  the  middle  and  hasten  away 

to  Gladstone's. 

London,  May  9,  1872. 

The  King  of  Belgium  presided  at  the  banquet  for 
the  Royal  Literary  Fund.  He  acquitted  himself  of 
this  task  (a  new  one  for  a  sovereign)  with  great 
good  grace  and  with  applause  from  an  aristocratic 
and  literary  company,  who  were  doubly  flattered  by 
the  compliments  they  received  as  being  from  the 
mouth  of  royalty  and  in  their  own  native  tongue. 
The  Belgian  endowment  necessarily  defrayed  the 
expense  of  the  compliments  and  felicitations  that 
were  exchanged ;  but  the  name  even  of  France  did 
not  figure  in  Mr.  Disraeli's  dissertation,  nor  in  the 
reply  made  by  the  grandson  of  Louis-Philippe. 

Musurus,  who  wishes  to  make  himself  agreeable 
at  the  Embassy,  testified  his  surprise  at  not  having 
met  me  at  the  banquet.  I  replied  :  "  I  cannot  be 
surprised  that  France's  representative  was  forgotten 
in  making  out  the  invitations,  when  France  herself 
was  forgotten  at  the  banquet." 

That    was    a    witticism.     So   much   the   worse ; 


1572.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  1 13 

diplomatists  ought  not  to  pass  for  wits.     But  I  was 
angry  at  the  King  of  Belgium. 

London,  May  14,  1872. 

Yesterday  evening  I  was  presented  to  the  Em- 
press-Queen :  ^  it  took  place  in  public  at  Prussia 
House.  There  was  a  crowd  of  kings  and  princes 
about  her.  A  great  silence  fell  when  I  appeared. 
The  Queen,  who  talks  capitally,  does  not  pause 
even  while  her  auditor  is  being  changed  ;  the  con- 
versation flows  on  from  one  to  the  other  without 
period  or  comma.  She  expressed  to  me  a  keen 
regret  at  not  having  met  the  Due  de  Broglie,  whom 
she  had  long  desired  to  know;  she  had  been  to 
Coppet  expressly  for  that  purpose.  "  Madam,  I 
will  convey  your  regrets  to  him.*'  Then  she  com- 
plained of  the  bad  weather  and  the  rain.  **  Madam, 
the  rain  will  smooth  the  sea  for  your  Majesty's 
passage.'*  Thus  ended  this  memorable  interview. 
That  indeed  was  an  occasion  to  beware  of  wit,  and  I 
conducted  myself  with  accomplished  stupidity. 

The  only  amusing  thing  was  a  group  of  musicians 

at  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  who  performed  after  the 

manner  of  a  leaky  tap :  drop  by  drop,  a  distillation 

of  discord. 

London,  May  25,  1872. 

Yesterday  I  bathed  all  day  in  verdure  ;  nothing 
can  equal  the  coolness,  the  brightness,  the  harmony 
of  tone  of  the  English  landscape — product  of  the 
fog  though  it  be,  and  in  especial  when  it  shines,  as 
it  sometimes   does,  beneath  the  sun.     Everywhere 

1  The  Empress  of  Germany  came  to  make  a  visit  to  England, 
8 


114  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1872. 

you  find  trees  of  extraordinary  age  and  vigor,  with 
magnificent  wide-sweeping  branches,  and  under- 
neath them  a  carpet  of  green — green  on  green ;  and 
the  whole  stretches  away  in  gentle  undulations  on 
every  side  to  the  horizon,  and  at  your  feet  flows  the 
silver  Thames.  I  was  not  more  than  twenty  miles 
from  London,  from  its  smoke  and  noise — I  should 
have  thought  it  was  two  hundred.  What  repose  ! 
The  trees  and  the  air  were  full  of  bird-notes  of  all 
kinds — a  pastoral  symphony  ;  few  houses  were  in 
sight  and  fewer  inhabitants.  A  great  farm,that  brings 
in  twenty  thousand  francs  a  year,  seems  to  run 
itself ;  a  portable  engine  does  all  the  work — labors, 
sows,  mows,  reaps,  chops,  beats,  gathers  in  the 
crops.  All  they  have  to  do  is  to  change  the  acces- 
sories from  time  to  time  and  let  it  go  its  way.  The 
farmer  is  a  respectable  gentleman  in  a  high-hat ;  his 
wife  sits  in  the  parlor  with  a  flower-stand  full  of 
flowers  before  her  window.  Books  from  the  circu- 
lating library  lie  on  the  table,  a  piano  stands  in  the 
back  of  the  room,  and  there  are  young  misses  in  the 
family  w^ith  rodent-teeth.  I  don't  say  that  a  bit 
more  stubble,  a  few  more  familiar,  disorderly  chick- 
ens, and  oxen  in  the  yoke — a  little  less  correctness 
and  tidiness  everywhere — would  not  have  added  to 
the  picturesqueness  of  it  all.  Oh ! — who  will  give 
me  back  the  country  in  which  the  good  Lord's 
beasts  are  at  home  ! 

My  hosts,  who  are  very  agreeable,  have  taken 
refuge  in  a  little  "  box ''  that  they  occupy  some  few 
days  only  in  the  year — a  featureless  little  structure, 
composed  of  odds  and  ends,  without  antiquity  or 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  1 15 

character,  and  with  a  garden  cut  bodily  out  of  the 
fields  which  stretch  away  as  for  as  the  eye  can 
see.  I  found  Hayward  there — brevet-story-teller, 
the  middleman  for  all  people  interested  in  politics, 
the  diplomatist's  Providence.  Also  Beaulieu,^  who 
read  me  the  humorous  letters  he  had  written  to 
amuse  the  Prince  of  Wales  ;  Lord  Norreys  ^  and 
his  wife  (the  husband  changed  his  faith  to  marry 
her) ;  Borthwick  ^  of  the  Morfiing  Post  (he  married  a 
Clarendon  and  is  a  fine-looking  fellow,  open-minded, 
cultivated,  and  agreeable)  ;  a  certain  Seymour,  M.  P.; 
and  I  forget  the  others  at  table.  I  talked  a  good 
deal  with  Fortescue  about  our  common  friends,  the 
Princes,  whose  portraits,  it  seems,  are  scattered  up 
and  down  his  part  of  the  country.  La  Smalah  was 
there  also.  He  seemed  to  be  more  than  a  little  an- 
noyed at  the  position  of  the  ministry.  The  Whigs, 
the  commissioners  say,  indisputably  convict  Glad- 
stone of  erroneous  assertions.  There  never  was  such 
fumbling  in  England  nor  such  a  disposition  to  con- 
tinue in  it.  Gladstone  had  promised  to  stay  and 
keep  a  sharp  lookout,  and  there  he  is  in  Wales. 

London,  May  28,  1872. 

The  weather  yesterday  was  fine,  but  there  is  no- 
thing to  rejoice  the  heart  in  seeing  society  turned  up- 
sidedown.  It  was  a  fete-day  in  all  senses.  Lots  of 
false  noses  and  false  beards  were  sold  for  those  who 

1  Minister  for  Belgium. 

2  Future  Earl  Abingdon. 

8  Baronet  in  1880  and  M.  P.  Lady  Borthwick  was  a  sister,  and  a 
niece  of  Earl  Clarendon. 


1 16  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON.  [1872. 

for  this  once  wanted  to  get  drunk,  but  were  ashamed 
of  it.  Everybody  drank  and  ate  till  their  cheeks 
puffed  out.  The  great  luxury  is  to  eat  in  your 
carriage — to  stuff  yourself  in  the  presence  of  the 
staring  crowd,  who  gather  up  or  steal  the  crumbs. 
The  space  left  free  by  the  horses  and  carriages  is 
filled  with  flying  sticks  and  arrows ;  so  much  the 
worse  for  you,  if  you  run  foul  of  one  of  their  national 
games.  As  for  shooting,  they  are  obliged  practice 
it  in  a  big  tube.  There  is  less  merit  in  hitting  the 
mark,  but  it  is  not  so  dangerous.  I  say  nothing  of 
the  horses  and  the  betting.  Perched  up  on  the  third 
story  on  the  roof  of  the  great  tribunal,  I  got  but  a 
"  bird's-eye  "  view,  but  the  space  set  apart  for  the 
sport  was  even  bigger  than  the  crowd.  In  this  rather 
brief  account  of  Derby  Day,  I  ought  not  to  forget 
the  myriads  of  tents  that  cover  the  plain  and  the 
hill — rags  attached  to  four  poles  and  flying  in  the 
wind.  Beside  them  the  raggedest  and  dirtiest  out- 
growths of  the  mud  of  London,  calling  out  to  all  the 
passerby :  **  Accommodation,  very  good  accom- 
modation ! '' — the  very  triumph  of  English  decency 
and  you  enter  the  appointed  inclosure  in  the  very 
midst  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  at  dinner  on  top  of 
their  coaches  I 

We  started  home  before  the  end — it  was  one 
great  orgie  of  drunkenness  that  we  left  behind. 

London,  June  2,  1872. 

The  Washington  treaty,  I  believe,  is  on  the  water, 
and  the  ministry  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea;  but 
what  chance  is  there  of  forming  another  }     Mr.  Dis- 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  1 1 7 

raeli  aptly  compared  Gladstone  and  his  colleagues 
on  the  government  benches  to  a  row  of  extinct 
volcanoes.  The  other  side,  however,  are  in  no  hurry. 
Lord  Derby  has  formally  declared  that  he  and  his 
friends  are  waiting  for  the  country  to  make  some 
more  decisive  sign  ;  he  has  no  notion  of  putting 
himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  radicals,  and  of  being 
obliged  to  do  their  will  in  order  to  keep  himself  in 
power.  It  is  a  pity  that  his  bearing  is  so  heavy  and 
so  odd — that  his  speech  is  so  embarrassed  and  his 
words  so  far  from  "  winged.'*  One  can  imagine  a 
country  gentleman  being  like  that,  but  not  the 
son  of  Lord  Derby.  His  programme  of  patient, 
effective  opposition  is  a  good  deal  more  grateful  to 
the  party  in  office  than  to  the  conservatives. 

Mr.  Gladstone  makes  some  of  them  uneasy  by 
his  daring  spirit,  by  his  enthusiasm  and  imprudences 
of  speech  ;  he  offends  others  by  the  haughtiness  or 
the  clumsiness  of  his  proceedings  and  by  the  abuses 
of  power  in  which  he  seems  to  delight.  I  ought  to 
add  that  whenever  I  listen  to  him,  I  fall  under  the 
spell  of  his  easy,  rich,  undulating  eloquence,  of  his 
harmonious  voice,  of  his  beautiful  clear  enuncia- 
tion, of  his  elocution  and  quick  eye  which  roves 
among  his  auditors  without  his  attention  to  what  he 
is  saying  lapsing  for  a  moment.  But  I  find  great 
difficulty  in  following  his  thought  through  all  its 
wanderings,  its  incidents,  its  obscurities  ;  and  I  ask 
myself  sometimes  if  he  is  always  capable  of  following 
it  himself. 

Yesterday  evening  the  "  uniforms  "  dined.^  Mine 
1  Dinner  at  Lord  Granville's. 


1 18  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

sat  between  that  of  the  Minister  of  the  Shah  of 
Persia  (who  amused  me  by  proving  that  with  its 
obligatory  ministry  service  and  the  poor-rates  in 
England  the  Occident  is  becoming  Mussulman  !),  and 
that  of  General  Cust,  the  chamberlain,  a  very 
pleasant  man  well  on  in  years,  full  of  sympathy  for 
France  and  appreciating  at  their  just  value  the 
Comte  de  Paris  and  the  Due  d'Aumale.  A  piece 
by  Offenbach  and  the  popping  of  corks  embroidered 
our  conversation.  The  dinner  was  not  long.  The 
beautiful  Lady  Castalia  then  appeared  in  all  her 
brilliancy  and  grace  and  a  draught  of  air  was  pro- 
vided for  her  bare  shoulders.  During  the  evening 
Count  Bernstorf  honored  me  by  hunting  me  out, 
and  explained  to  me  all  his  '*  decorations,*'  one  of 
which  Bismarck  is  without.  A  friend  in  the  Foreign 
Office  showed  me  a  secret  stairway  by  which  I  was 
enabled  to  make  my  escape — the  main  stairway 
being  occupied  by  the  assaulting  columns  of  the 
mob.  It  was  thus  made  possible  for  me  to  reach 
Stafford  House,  the  Duke  of  Sutherland's  home,  a 
little  before  midnight. 

Ah  !  what  a  stairway  !  I  did  not  have  time  to 
form  an  opinion  on  the  architecture,  but  what  plate  ! 
— it  is  more  than  royal !  And  with  it  all  a  duchess 
who  must  be  more  beautiful  than  the  house  she 
inhabits.  The  possessor  of  all  these  treasures  when 
he  mounts  that  stairway  (it  is  wide  enough  to  accom- 
modate a  battalion)  may  well  think  that  all  men  are 
not  equal.  The  great  apartments  were  not  open, 
so  I  did  not  see  their  three  thousand  pictures ;  but 
as  far  as  I  could  judge  at  a  glance  there  were  below 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  1 19 

stairs  some  half-a-milHon  francs*  worth  of  daubs, 
portraits,  water-colors,  lithographs,  ornamented  with 
frames,  of  great  value  no  doubt,  but  I  could  not 
see  them  distinctly  and  simply  walked  through,  to 
arrive  at  Mr.  Gladstone's  at  half-an-hour  past  mid- 
night. What  are  v/e  coming  to  !  It  was  Sunday, 
and  there  were  still  twenty-odd  people  there — all 
diplomats  it  is  true.^ 

Bitracte  trom  tbe  IRotes* 

THE  NEGOTIATION  FOR  THE  TREATY  OF  COMMERCE. 

Count  Bernard  d'Harcourt  reached  London  the 
7th  of  June  to  replace  the  Due  de  Broglie.  He  left, 
dismissed,  the  9th  of  August.  On  the  morning  of 
the  day  following  M.  Ozenne  arrived  with  instruc- 
tions from  the  president  relative  to  opening  negoti- 
ations at  London,  for  a  treaty  of  commerce.  There 
had  been  some  talk  about  it  ever  since  the  close 
of  1871.  M.  Thiers  was  tormented  with  the  idea  of 
freeing  us  from  the  odious  treaties  of  i860,  and  of 
creating  at  the  same  time,  by  a  tax  on  raw  materials, 
a  source  of  income  we  needed  to  pay  the  interest  on 
our  ransom.  The  moment  the  chamber  gave  him 
the  necessary  authority,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
use  of  it.     March   15th,   1872,  he  announced  that 

1  From  June  to  October  there  is  a  break  in  the  correspondence. 
M.  Gavard*s  family  being  at  that  period  with  him,  there  was  no 
occasion  for  him  to  write.  From  the  month  of  August  on,  he  was 
especially  busied,  as  the  reader  will  see,  in  negotiating  a  treaty  of 
commerce,  a  ticklish  affair  that  he  had  not  lost  sight  of  since  his 
arrival  in  London. 


120  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

the  treaties  would  be  in  force  but  one  year  longer 
— till,  that  is,  March  15th,  1873.  I  shall  not  enter 
into  the  details  of  the  negotiations  which  followed, 
except  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  for  a  proper  un- 
derstanding of  the  comedy  which  was  played  be- 
tween London  and  Paris  in  the  months  of  August, 
September  and  October,  and  in  which  I  was  one  of 
the  principal  actors.  I  call  it  a  comedy,  because  all 
our  labors,  though  crowned  for  the  moment  with 
success,  bore  no  fruit,  and  because  the  only  interest- 
ing thing  about  it  all  is  the  light  it  throws  on  cer- 
tain characters. 

There  was  no  notion  at  first  of  giving  me,  any 
more  than  the  Due  de  Broglie,  a  role  to  play  ;  it  was 
M.  Thiers's  personal  affair.  Nobody  else,  we  thought, 
could  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue ;  he  needed 
nothing  but  a  devoted  instrument.  M.  Ozenne 
accordingly  arrived  in  London  as  a  direct  emana- 
tion from  the  brain  of  M.  Thiers,  with  authority  to 
pass  as  well  over  the  head  of  the  ambassador  at 
London  as  over  that  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  at  Paris. 

The  instructions  that  M.  Ozenne  brought  with 
him  were  full  of  misconceptions.  England  was  to 
be  asked  to  renew  the  treaty  of  i860,  augmenting 
certain  duties  on  the  score  of  protecting  home  in- 
dustries, and  increasing  the  taxes  relative  to  all 
manufactured  articles  on  the  score  of  compensation 
for  the  duties  on  raw  materials  ;  the  new  arrange- 
ment to  take  effect  at  once,  before  the  legal  expira- 
tion  of  the  treaty  in  1873. 

I  was  well  acquainted  with  the  ground ;  I  had 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  I2l 

studied  it  long  since,  and  I  knew  what  we  should 
have  to  contend  with  in  the  English  Government : 
A  strong  disposition  to  preserve  the  treaties  of  i860, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  permit  us  to  straighten  out 
our  finances ;  but  also  a  firm  resolution  not  to  run 
foul  of  the  Cobden  Club  nor  of  its  principles  ;  so 
much  for  Mr.  Gladstone.  Lord  Granville  and  Sir 
Charles  Fortescue  would  be  faithful  besides  to  cer- 
tain political  considerations.  It  would  be  on  the 
side  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer^  that  we 
should  have  least  to  expect ;  hostile  though  he  was  on 
principle  to  treaties  of  commerce,  a  cold  friend  to 
France,  and  determined  not  to  enter  into  new  en- 
gagements that  would  hamper  him  in  his  projects. 
As  to  the  country,  it  looked  on  the  whole  thing  with 
great  distrust,  convinced  that  any  proposition  com- 
ing from  MM.  Thiers  and  Povyer-Quertier  must 
mask  some  evil  design.  And  against  them  we  had 
only  the  great  ship-owners  in  the  great  ports,  who 
were  desirous  to  regain  the  former  privileges  al- 
lowed by  France  to  English  vessels  not  trading 
"  directly." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  delicate  matters  I  had 
already  been  obliged  to  treat  of  had  established  a 
regular  correspondence  and  a  mutual  confidence  be- 
tween M.  de  R^musat  and  myself.  I  did  not  hesi- 
tate therefore  to  say  to  him  :  *^  If  you  want  not  to 
abolish  but  to  preserve  the  treaty  of  i860  and  the 
principles  on  which  it  rests,  facilitating  for  our 
government  the  collection  of  its  new  imports;  if 
you  want,  in  a  word,  certain  purely  fiscal  modifica- 

1  Hon.  R.  Lowe. 


122  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON',  [1872. 

tions,  and  if  you  are  disposed  at  the  same  time  to 
free  the  British  marine  from  the  sort  of  discrimina- 
tion that  it  labors  under  at  the  present  moment,  I 
guarantee  success  for  you.  But  if  you  have  at 
heart  secretly  or  overtly  any  protectionist  project, 
you  had  better  give  it  up.*'  M.  R^musat  imme- 
diately agreed  with  me;  but  it  took  more  than  one 
despatch  and  more  than  one  trip  on  the  part  of  M. 
Ozenne  to  induce  the  president  to  adopt  these 
ideas. 

At  first  it  was  felt  that  I  was  taking  rather  a  high 
tone,  for  a  charge  d'affaires  pro  tent;  but  before 
the  end  of  a  month  I  was  complimented  on  the 
new  turn  I  had  given  the  negotiation.  M.  de  R6- 
musat  wrote  me  that  the  president  had  been  much 
struck  by  my  official  and  private  correspondence, 
and  had  testified  his  satisfaction.  From  this 
moment  on  I  received  nothing  but  felicitations  and 
encouragements  to  go  ahead.  I  certainly  had  my 
day  with  M.  Thiers  during  his  sojourn  at  Trouville ; 
rumors  of  it  reached  me  from  all  sides;  it  was  I 
who  prevented  the  Emperor's  descending  upon 
France  ;  it  was  I  who  hurried  off  Her  Majesty's 
ships  of  war  to  the  coast  of  the  British  channel 
to  salute  the  president,  etc.  ;  and  what  was  nearer 
the  truth,  it  was  I  who  managed  the  negotiation  of 
the  Treaty.  Having  succeeded  in  getting  them  to 
withdraw  all  pretensions  to  a  protectionist  amend- 
ment and  to  restrict  the  negotiation  to  the  purely 
fiscal  clauses,  I  undertook  to  have  the  question  of 
principle  separated  from  the  question  of  its  applica- 
tion. 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  1^3 

I  recognized  perfectly  the  difficulty  there  would 
be  in  reaching  an  agreement  on  the  determination 
of  the  taxes  destined  as  compensation  for  the  duties 
on  raw  materials  only,  in  especial  if  interested 
parties  were  given  time  to  express  their  opinions  ; 
nor  was  I  unaware  how  long  such  an  undertaking 
would  naturally  be  in  reaching  a  conclusion — loss  of 
time  meant  to  us  loss  of  all  that  we  were  striving 
for.  The  nearer  we  approached  March  iSth,  1873, 
the  less  there  was  for  England  to  concede  to  us, 
since  at  that  time  we  should  in  any  event  recover  our 
liberty.  I  threw  my  weight  into  the  scales  and 
showed  M.  R^musat  that  we  needed  a  renewal  of 
the  treaty,  for  our  own  sakes,  and  also  for  its  moral 
effect  on  Europe,  politically  and  commercially. 
Probably  my  reasons  were  found  good,  for,  after 
having  consented  to  the  suspension  of  the  protec- 
tionist clauses,  they  agreed  also  to  disjoin  the  ques- 
tion of  principle  from  the  question  of  the  application 
of  the  principle.  It  was  understood  that  the  treaty 
should  consecrate  the  principle  of  compensating 
duties,  reserving  the  determination  of  them  to  a 
meeting  at  Paris  immediately  after  the  completion 
of  the  signature. 

The  negotiation  was  not  a  month  old  before  the 
necessity  was  felt  of  coming  to  my  aid  and  of  giving 
more  weight  to  my  words.  I  was  officially  desig- 
nated as  First  Plenipotentiary  of  France,  and  my  full 
powers  were  sent  me  the  13th  of  September  at  the 
same  time  with  those  of  M.  Ozenne.  For  me  it  was 
a  great  honor.  M.  de  Remusat  confided  to  me  one 
day  that  some  one  had  said  to  him  that  the  British 


124  ^  DIPLOMA  T  m  LONDOJ^,  [1872. 

government  was  waiting  till  we  should  send  some 
considerable  personage  over  to  sign  the  treaty — 
more  considerable  even  than  the  ambassador.  It  was 
nothing  of  the  sort.  Lord  Granville,  who  appre- 
ciated my  frankness  and  the  spirit  with  which  I  had 
pushed  the  affair,  was  very  happy  publicly  to  testify 
his  feeling  about  me,  in  signing  the  treaty  with  me ; 
he  has  said  so  to  me  since  and  has  repeated  it  pub- 
licly. The  difficulty  was  about  signing  with  M. 
Ozenne,  whose  hierarchic  position  in  the  French 
administration  was  not  covered  by  his  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  diplomatic  corps  ;  still  Lord  Granville 
passed  over  that,  and  was  gracious  enough  to  say  to 
me  that  it  was  for  me  to  manage  the  signature  to 
suit  myself.  I  should  give  no  just  idea  of  the  diffi- 
culties, not  even  of  the  mechanical  difficulties,  of 
the  task  I  had  undertaken,  if  I  omitted  to  say  that 
in  the  months  of  August,  September  and  October 
there  was  nobody  in  London,  and  in  especial  no 
member  of  the  Cabinet.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Ken- 
nedy, whom  Lord  Granville  had  expressly  desig- 
nated as  his  middleman,  was  there  ;  and  I  ought  to 
say  that  it  was  to  this  appointment  and  to  the 
intelligence  and  good-will  of  Mr.  Kennedy  that  we 
in  the  main  owed  our  success ;  but  Mr.  Kennedy's 
presence  did  not  prevent  my  corresponding  directly 
with  the  members  of  the  Cabinet.  My  letters  pur- 
sued Lord  Granville  to  Walmer  Castle,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone to  Hawarden,  the  Hon.  Fortescue  to  Shew- 
ton-Mendip.  Mr.  Gladstone's  rephes  were  as  cloudy, 
as  obscure,  as  his  drafts  for  treaties  ;  those  of  Lord 
Granville  were  short  but  conclusive ;   and  Fortes- 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  12^ 

cue*s  and  Lady  Waldegrave*s  were  veritably  perfect ; 
it  was  not  for  nothing  that  I  had  made  use  of  the 
names  of  the  Orleans*  Princes  to  gain  this  con- 
fidence. 

While  we  were  thus  making  every  effort  to  come 
to  an  agreement  on  the  renewal  of  the  treaty  of 
i860,  the  three  Emperors  met  at  Berlin,  and  the 
representatives  of  England,  no  more  than  those  of 
France,  had  been  invited  to  be  present  at  this  inter- 
view. I  insisted  at  some  length  to  Lord  Granville 
that  the  absentees  should  profit  by -the  occasion  to 
come  to  an  understanding  with  one  another,  and 
should  unite  two  nations  on  the  basis  of  material 
interest  as  a  parallel  to  the  embraces  the  three 
potentates  were  exchanging  behind  closed  doors.  I 
caused  this  thesis  to  be  developed  also  in  the  news- 
papers, which  bore  their  part  in  the  negotiation.  I 
v/as  and  I  am  convinced  that,  if  one  wants  to  man- 
age any  business  properly  in  England,  he  must,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  addresses  the  government, 
negotiate  directly  with  public  opinion  through  the 
press  and  through  members  of  Parliament  or  of  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  if  there  be  at  issue  any 
question  which  concerns  them.  I  have  never  neg- 
lected this  device,  and  have  always  found  the  good 
of  it,  both  in  1872  and  later  in  1875,  with  the  Con- 
servative Cabinet. 

We  have  reached  at  last  the  critical  period  of  the 
affair.  The  end  of  October  was  approaching  and 
we  had  to  come  to  some  conclusion.  Unhappily, 
the  nearer  we  approached  the  limit  of  our  time,  the 
less  distinctness   there  was   in  the  directions  that 


126  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  [1S72. 

came  from  Paris.  There  was  nothing  but  discussion 
at  headquarters,  which  waxed  all  the  hotter,  that 
nobody  dared  go  to  the  bottom  of  things  and  show 
the  president  that  he  was  contradicting  himself ;  he 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  concessions  that  at 
the  outset  he  had  made.  Poor  M.  Ozenne  was  at 
the  end  of  his  tether ;  he  came  back  to  me  com- 
pletely worn  out.  Happily,  my  letters  proved  a 
sufficient  voucher  of  what  had  been  said,  and  I  went 
ahead  with  no  other  care  than  to  conquer  or  to 
perish. 

On  the  24th  of  October  I  was  of  opinion  that  we 
had  reached  the  psychological  moment.  On  the 
one  hand  M.  Ozenne  had  brought  me  from  Paris 
an  order  to  change  our  position,  to  bring  to  the 
front  once  more  the  stipulation  for  a  time-limit  that 
we  had  theretofore  put  aside,  contrary  to  my  advice. 
But  it  was  too  late  to  retrace  our  steps,  even  for  the 
purpose  of  bettering  the  conditions  of  the  treaty. 
I  had  observed  that  Lord  Granville  had  been  much 
shaken  by  its  being  found  out  in  England  that, 
with  or  without  a  treaty,  we  should  not  be  able  to 
discriminate  against  England,  either  as  regards  her 
marine  or  her  commerce ;  I  had  been  warned  by  a 
sure  friend  (Lady  Waldegrave)  that  we  must  close 
the  matter  up  promptly  and  give  Lord  Granville  no 
pretext  for  backing  out.  A  pretext  for  backing  out 
was  precisely  what  I  should  have  given  him,  if  I 
had  followed  my  instructions  and  gone  at  the  last 
moment  to  propose  an  alteration  in  the  draft  already 
made.  The  English  Government  would  have  been 
certain  to  suspect  some  hidden  purpose  on  our  part, 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  127 

and  all  the  more  so  that  there  existed  in  reality 
nothing  of  the  kind.  The  truth  is,  that  the  govern- 
ment at  Paris  had  not  taken  account  of  the  fact 
that  the  guaranty  of  favorable  treatment  secured 
indirectly  for  our  treaty  (because  of  the  existing 
arrangement  between  England  and  Austria)  precise- 
ly the  same  degree  of  permanence  that  I  was  order- 
ed to  secure  for  it  directly  by  a  special  stipulation. 

I  announced  at  Paris  that  I  had  postponed  com- 
municating the  new  propositions,  and  I  stated  my 
reasons  for  doing  so.  Mr.  Gladstone  aspires  to  be 
the  leader  of  the  "  free-trade  **  party,  now  that  Cobden 
no  longer  holds  that  position  ;  he  considers  himself 
the  guardian  of  commercial  liberty,  not  only  in  Eng- 
land, but  everywhere.  He  feels  therefore  that  he 
has  made  a  great  sacrifice  in  giving  his  approval 
to  our  proposition  for  a  levy  of  "  compensating " 
duties.  From  the  moment  that  he  agreed  to  allow 
those  duties  to  be  collected  the  enemies  of  the  treaty 
on  both  sides  of  the  Channel  have  left  no  stone  un- 
turned that  could  make  him  feel  more  keenly  the 
responsibility  he  has  incurred. 

They  have  represented  to  him  that  without  the 
treaty  with  England  we  could  not  hope  for  success 
in  a  single  one  of  our  negotiations  with  other  powers ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  approach  them  with 
his  approval  the  other  powers  cannot  show  them- 
selves severer  guardians  of  the  principles  of  "  free 
trade  **  than  England  has  done.  They  reproached 
him  with  his  assent  as  an  act  of  foolishness  and  an 
abandonment  of  his  principles.  They  say,  in  every 
conceivable  form  of  expression,  that  he  is  preparing 


128  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

the  way  for  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  economic 
theories  that,  but  for  his  desertion,  M.  Thiers  would 
have  tried  in  vain  to  bring  into  recognition.  Finally, 
I  have  reason  to  believe  that  a  certain  pressure  now 
being  brought  to  bear  by  foreign  powers  has  not 
been  without  effect  in  lessening  the  good-will  that 
England  manifested  so  patently  in  our  favor  after 
the  success  of  the  loan  and  of  the  congress  at  Ber- 
lin. I  am  alarmed  lest  the  prime  minister,  mani- 
festly restless  as  he  is,  under  the  responsibility  he 
assumed  when  he  accepted  our  overture,  should 
jump  at  the  chance  of  distinguishing  himself,  con- 
sidering it  a  safe  course  in  Parliament  to  say  that  he 
had  at  first  consented  to  the  proposal  and  then  with- 
drawn his  consent  before  a  too  tardy  acceptance. 
In  the  eyes  of  the  world  the  treaty  is  an  accom- 
plished fact ;  the  terms  are  known,  and  the  two 
governments  no  longer  try  to  hide  their  accord.  If 
the  thing  falls  through  we  cannot  avoid  misunder- 
standings, publicity,  and  indignant  recriminations, 
which  will  have  the  worst  possible  effect  on  the 
relations  of  the  two  countries.  Public  opinion, 
which  is  ruled  by  commercial  interests,  will  rise 
blindly,  and,  in  the  name  of  free  trade,  the  govern- 
ment and  the  public  will  join  in  a  regretable  hos- 
tility to  France  and  to  the  government  of  M.  Thiers. 
It  is  to  conjure  away  this  result  that  I  insisted  on  a 
return  to  the  propositions  to  which  I  was  authorized, 
on  October  i8th,  to  give  in  our  assent. 

I  waited  tranquilly  for  the  effect  of  these  observa- 
tions. Telegrams  began  to  arrive  the  night  of  the 
26th.     The  president  announced  that  he  was  send- 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  129 

ing  M.  Ame  ;  the  minister,  too,  had  sent  a  courier 
with  an  envelope  from  the  president.  The  next 
day,  Monday,  brought  me  nothing  but  the  regrets 
of  M.  de  Remusat,  who  wondered  if  it  would  not  have 
been  better  to  carry  on  the  negotiations  at  Paris.  I 
repeated  my  messages.  At  three  o'clock  there  came 
a  telegram  from  the  president :  **  I  ordered  M.  Ame 
to  leave  yesterday  evening,  and  am  indignant  that 
he  has  delayed  his  departure.  In  matters  as  grave 
as  these  one  sacrifices  one's  personal  affairs,  at  no 
matter  what  cost."  Then  he  continued  enjoining 
me  to. yield  and  sign.  This  injunction,  along  with 
other  matters  in  cipher,  was  repeated  a  number  of 
times.  The  English  government  was,  for  the  rest, 
as  determined  as  I  was.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  courier  arrived  a  good  first.  He  brought 
a  note  from  the  president  running :  "  Sign  !  Sign  !  " 
Also  a  letter  from  M.  de  Remusat  which  was  excel- 
lent, cordial,  and  unmistakably  plain  :  "  Put  the 
thing  through  at  any  price,  and  good  luck  to  you  ! 
I  sympathize  heartily  with  you  in  your  anxiety." 
M.  de  Pontecoulant  also  had  been  charged  to  tell  me 
that  I  was  counted  on  to  save  the  negotiation  from 
falling  through.  At  last,  about  nine  o'clock,  M. 
Am6  appeared.  He  had  lost  his  trunks,  had  secured 
no  quarters  at  the  hotel,  and  was  no  better  informed 
than  M.  Ozenne  in  regard  to  the  telegrams  of  the  day. 
From  this  point  on  my  sole  anxiety  was  not  to  sign 
the  papers  on  the  2d  of  November,  which  was  All 
Souls'  Day.  M.  Ozenne  was  ready  to  sign  at  any 
time,  so  as  to  have  done  with  it,  but  happily,  M. 
Thiers  understood  my  feelings.  We  were,  however, 
9 


130  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

obliged  to  work  continuously  to  be  ready  by  the 
5th.  It  was  necessary,  even  at  the  Foreign  Office,  to 
work  on  Sunday  to  get  the  papers  ready.  Such  a 
thing  had  never  before  been  heard  of,  and  the  ven- 
erable Mr.  March,  chief  of  the  special  service  (who 
violated  the  Sabbath),  dying  some  weeks  afterward, 
I  was  accused  of  being  the  cause  of  his  decease. 

On  the  5th  the  treaty  was  signed  at  the  Foreign 
Office  at  three  o'clock.  Lord  Granville  accompanied 
his  signature  with  many  gracious  expressions,  and 
in  an  official  letter  emphasized  the  amicable  inten- 
tions which  had  moved  his  government  to  accept  the 
new  arrangement. 

'*  For  the  one  party/'  I  wrote  to  M.  de  R^musat 
''this  is  the  treaty  of  i860  renewed,  surviving  the 
Empire  ;  for  the  other,  it  is  an  opportunity  to  apply 
the  law  in  regard  to  raw  materials.'*  The  same  day 
I  sent  a  dispatch  which  supplied  the  minister  with 
an  exposition  of  my  motives.  At  his  request  I 
wrote  out  for  him  once  more  some  arguments 
against  the  adversaries  of  the  treaty :  "  It  is  im- 
portant that  our  government  should  not  misunder- 
stand the  magnitude  of  the  sacrifice  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Queen  feels  that  it  has  made  for  us. 
It  is  only  by  being  right  on  this  point  that  we  can 
estimate  justly  the  amount  of  good-will  to  us 
which  they  have  shown  in  agreeing  to  our  proposi- 
tions, and  which  Lord  Granville  expressed  in  a  way 
not  to  be  misunderstood  when  he  wrote  me  the  fol- 
lowing :  '  I  can  assure  you  that  the  Queen's  govern- 
ment has  given,  by  its  assent  in  this  matter,  the 
gravest  proof  possible  of  its  sincere  desire  (in  the 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  131 

Spirit  of  friendship  toward  France),  to  come  to  your 
aid  in  the  present  circumstances/  It  cannot  be  to 
our  interest  to  beHttle  such  a  testimonial/* 

M.  de  Remusat  had  not  misunderstood  the  bear- 
ing of  England's  action  in  the  matter;  he  proved 
as  much  in  a  letter  that  he  wrote  me  on  the  7th 
of  November :  **  I  have  received  to-day/*  he  said, 
"the  text  of  the  treaty  and  your  dispatch  of  the 
6th.  ...  I  congratulate  you  on  bringing  to  an  is- 
sue a  work  in  which  you  have  taken  so  promi- 
nent a  part.  .  .  .  The  zeal  and  ability  that  you  have 
shown  in  this  difficult  negotiation  have  been  re- 
marked by  the  President  of  the  Republic,  who  asks 
me  to  express  to  you  his  intense  satisfaction.  As 
for  myself,  I  can  hardly  express  to  you  the  value  I 
set  upon  the  service  you  have  rendered  the  state.*' 
The  rest  was  a  review  of  the  commercial  and  polit- 
ical importance  of  the  treaty,  etc.,  etc. 

My  task  was  done,  my  commission  at  an  end,  and 
I  was  in  a  hurry  to  return  to  Paris,  where  I  was  in 
demand  in  the  discussion  of  questions  of  applica- 
tion, interpretation,  etc. 

It  was  at  the  time  of  this  negotiation  that  I  was 
in  greatest  favor  with  M.  Thiers.  He  sang  my 
praises  so  loudly, — a  bit  to  enrage  my  superiors, — 
that  I  was  thought  to  be  destined  to  the  most  ex- 
alted station.  The  entire  administration  of  France 
was  put  at  my  disposal.  My  influence  was  re- 
garded as  such  by  M.  de  Remusat,  that  he  sent  for  me 
at  different  times  to  come  to  Paris  and  make  head 
against  his  terrible  friend,  who  could  hardly  bear, 
or  rather,  would   not  listen  to  contradiction.     The 


132  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1872. 

trouble  was  about  the  application  of  the  treaty  of 
the  5th  of  November.  M.  Thiers  obstinately  inter- 
preted an  important  clause  in  a  way  quite  subver- 
sive of  the  declarations  of  the  ministers  from  the 
Tribune  and  of  those  who  conducted  the  negotia- 
tions in  England.  The  matter  was  discussed,  in  a 
sort  of  special  council,  at  Versailles,  at  which  I  was 
present.  M.  de  Remusat  gave  me  the  floor,  en- 
couraging me  by  patting  me  on  the  back,  to  go 
ahead.  One  day,  when  I  became  too  pressing,  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  happening  to  ride  by,  M.  Thiers 
opened  the  window  and  had  them  pass  in  review  at 
a  distance,  thus  ending  the  discussion.  At  another 
time,  when  I  was  speaking  with  conviction  and  with 
fiece  de  conviction^  he  got  up  and  went  into  his 
office  to  look  for  a  box  of  chocolates.  When  he  came 
back  he  filled  my  mouth  with  them,  and  thus  once 
more  ended  the  discussion. 

I  believe  that  the  courage  with  which  I  defended 
my  opinions  did  not  displease  him  ;  the  more  so 
that  I  neglected  no  opportunity  of  redeeming  my 
professional  frankness  by  compliments  which  were 
the  more  graceful  in  that  they  were  sincere.  When 
the  conversation  touched  on  internal  politics,  or  on 
people  about  whom  we  did  not  agree,  I  remembered 
the  passing  regiment,  and  in  my  turn  opened  the 
window  to  the  militeriana.  I  had  only  to  mention 
a  subject  to  set  him  talking  endlessly,  and  it  was 
really  a  pleasure  to  hear  him.  I  learned  in  this  way 
one  evening  the  history  of  all  the  transformations 
that  the  Roman  army  underwent.  I  had  always 
thought  of   it  as   homogeneous   from  the  time  of 


1872.I  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  133 

Romulus  to  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire; 
but  it  passed,  it  seems,  through  as  many  radical  re- 
forms as  the  French  army  has  since  there  was  a 
French  army  ;  in  support  of  which  very  probable 
thesis  M.  Thiers  abounded  in  arguments.  From 
the  army  of  Marius  or  of  Caesar  we  passed  to  Marius 
himself,  to  Caesar  and  to  Pompey.  **  Caesar  was  an 
ignoramus;  he  knew  nothing  of  the  art  of  war,  but 
he  was  a  genius  !  Ah  !  genius  makes  up  for  every- 
thing/* From  the  ancients  we  passed  on  to  the 
moderns.  "Turenne  was  the  completest  of  war- 
riors ;  in  his  person  all  the  warlike  virtues  were 
united.  As  for  Napoleon,  he  was  a  genius — a  mili- 
tary genius  such  as  Providence  has  but  twice  sent 
to  this  planet.  What  about  our  enemies  ?  They 
have  foresight.  General  von  Moltke  had  universal 
foresight,  but  not  genius.  Which  would  one  choose 
if  one  had  to  choose  between  the  two?  After  some 
hesitation,  M.  Thiers  voted  for  universal  foresight. 
Perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  himself  when  he  gave 
this  verdict.  His  talk  was  marvellously  full  of  in- 
teresting details,  and  pithy,  effective  turns  of  phrase. 
It  all  came  back  to  me  some  time  afterward,  when  I 
heard  M.  Jules  Simon  deliver  his  eloquent  speech 
against  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  marshal's 
power. 

The  orator  touching  on  general  considerations  and 
tracing  the  heroic  portrait  of  the  man  of  war,  to  con- 
trast with  it  the  figure  of  Napoleon  III  at  Sedan; 
I  recognized  the  thought  and  even  the  words,  and 
told  my  neighbor  that  he  was  going  to  speak  of 
Turenne.     M.  Jules  Simon  had  at  least  as  good  a 


134  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON-,  [1872. 

memory  as  I.  The  long-range  practice  from  the 
battery  at  Montretout  on  another  occasion  stood 
me  in  good  stead.  As  the  conversation  turned  on 
questions  that  I  did  not  wish  to  discuss  with  the 
president,  I  found  it  much  more  agreeable  to  listen 
to  the  history  of  the  improvement  he  had  brought 
about  in  military  tactics.  I  remember  in  especial 
his  vivid  characterization  of  the  "  shell ''  as  a  loaded 
mine,  that  saunters  through  the  air  and  holding  its 
charge  till  it  reaches  the  desired  spot  bursts,  etc., 
etc. 

But  it  is  not  my  design  to  set  down  here  all  the 
treasures  of  learning,  wit  and  eloquence  he  bribed 
me  with  from  time  to  time  ;  I  wanted  simply  to  ex- 
plain a  bit  my  relations  with  him. 

After  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  November,  he 
conferred  on  me  the  commander's  cross,  and  sent 
me  to  London  with  the  same  rank  as  before.  I 
could  ask  nothing  better.  I  had  done  M.  Thiers* 
foreign  policy  good  service ;  I  had  contributed  to 
procure  for  him  the  moral  success  which,  at  the  close 
of  1872,  after  the  notoriety  given  to  this  attempt  to 
come  into  closer  relations  with  England,  he  could 
not  well  have  foregone  ;  I  had  helped  him  to  antici- 
pate, at  the  beginning  of  his  economic  campaign,  a 
failure  at  London,  which  would  not  have  given  him 
time  to  withdraw  gracefully  'from  his  financial  pro- 
jects. I  had  been  therefore  useful  to  him  ;  and  he 
had  recompensed  my  services  by  an  official  testi- 
monial of  his  satisfaction.  I  regretted  that  our  re- 
lations could  not  continue  on  the  same  footing ;  but 
I  had  never  had  the  least  idea  of  following  his  lead 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  13^ 

in    politics.     His   political   views  were   not  mine — 
never  had  been  and  never  could  be. 


J6itract9  trom  tbc  CotreeponDence. 

London,  September  14,  1872. 

Have  been  watching  the  manoeuvring  at  Salis- 
bury-field. That  sort  of  thing  here  is  simply  a  form 
of  sport.  They  play  at  soldier  from  their  play- 
grounds at  school  up  to  this  great  parade  ground, 
where  Mr.  Cardwell  ^  has  succeeded  in  getting  to- 
gether thirty  thousand  men.  The  capital  fact  is  the 
presence  of  this  civilian  minister,  to-day,  acting-chief 
of  the  army,  taking  his  place  at  the  side  of  the  Prince 
who  is  the  official  chief,  and  enduring  with  a  patience 
quite  English,  the  little  insults  which  neither  the 
princes  nor  the  representatives  of  the  military  aris- 
tocracy spare  him.  The  presence  of  the  minister 
signified  that  the  army  to-day  belongs  to  the  State, 
that  the  privileges  of  the  aristocratic  close  corpora- 
tion have  given  place  to  the  law  of  the  realm,  the 
traditional  routine  to  the  reforms  commanded  by 
the  new  conditions  of  the  art  of  war.  I  hesitate  to 
compare  Mr.  Cardwell  to  Louvois,  and  the  timid 
efforts  of  the  one  to  the  splendid  creations  of  the 
other.  But  it  is  at  least  evident  that  the  English 
minister  of  war,  in  his  struggle  to  dispossess  the  aris- 
tocracy of  its  military  appanage,  has  not  been  un- 
conscious of  the  great  French  military  reformer. 
And  the  comparison  is  far  from  displeasing  to  him  I 

^  Viscount  Cardwell  in  1874 ;  at  the  time  referred  to  in  the  text, 
minister  of  war. 


136  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDOI^,  [1872. 

know,  when  it  comes  in  the  form  of  a  delicate  allu- 
sion. It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  present  state  of  things 
to  the  time  when  honorary  commands  might  be 
offered  to  young  men  and  refused  by  ambitious  mam- 
mas on  the  ground  that  their  sons  were  going  in  for 

merit. 

London,  October  25,  1872. 

There  is  no  one  in  London  to  talk  with  about 
England's  last  misadventure  in  the  San  Juan  Island 
affair.^  At  Geneva  they  levied  a  tribute  on  the  Eng- 
lish ;  at  BerHn,  they  cut  off  a  piece  of  her  hve  flesh. 

The  Times  said  yesterday :  "  After  all,  if  we  do 
lose  the  Island  which  commands  England's  posses- 
sions on  the  Pacific  Coast  there  will  be  economy 
in  having  one  less  garrison  to  keep  up.*'  They  will 
be  able  to  make  many  economies  of  this  kind  be- 
fore long  in  Canada  and  elsewhere. 

It  was  announced  yesterday  that  the  Russians 
had  entered  Khiva,  and  were  approaching  British 
India.  The  Times  says,  **  So  much  the  better — in- 
stead of  having  a  turbulent  and  barbarous  neighbor 
we  will  have  a  civilized  one,  and  the  benefits  that 
come  from  intercourse  with  a  great  nation." 

Yesterday's  dinner  at  club  was  very  interest- 
ing. Hayward,  the  celebrated  Sumner,^  of  the 
American  Senate,  and  Kingslake,^  just  back  from 

1  Referring  to  the  decision  of  the  German  Emperor  in  favor  of  the 
United  States  in  the  San  Juan  Island  affair.  The  consequences 
were  serious  for  British  Columbia  and  for  England's  interests  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  It  was  the  result  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  faith  in  the 
panacea  of  arbitration. 

2  Senator  Charles  Sumner,  a  great  orator. 

5  Kingslake,  author  of  the  History  of  the  Crimean  War. 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  13^ 

Berlin,  took  a  table  together.  Sumner  quoted  from 
memory  and  declaimed  passages  from  all  the  great 
English  orators.  Hayward  rivalled  him,  supplied 
him  with  missing  words,  recited  in  his  turn,  and 
ended  by  saying,  "  I  have  heard  them  all ;  Canning, 
Peel,  Plunkett,  and  best  of  all,  Brougham.'' 

London,  November  10,  1872. 

I  attended  yesterday  a  banquet  at  Guildhall.  You 
will  remember  the  immense  hall.  We  were  received 
in  the  new  library,  another  structure  of  the  same 
immensity.  We  had  to  walk  between  two  rows 
of  eager  eyes,  to  the  foot  of  the  throne,  where  were 
seated  the  king  and  queen  of  spades.^ 

It  was  not  until  I  was  taking  my  place  among 
these  high  dignitaries  that  I  discovered  that  every 
one  but  myself  was  in  uniform.  Happily  the  other 
republican,  the  chargd  d'affaires  of  the  United 
States  was  also  dressed  in  black.  Republican  man- 
ners, antique  simplicity :  I  hope  that  this  will  stand 
me  in  good  stead  with  Barthelemy-St.-Hilaire. 

I  do  not  believe  any  one  noticed  it  in  the  midst  of 
the  crowd  of  twelve  hundred  guests.  Suddenly  the 
trumpet  sounded, — it  was  some  minister  arriving  in 
front  of  the  building.  Trumpets  greeted  him  in  every 
room  till  he  reached  the  foot  of  the  throne.  It  is 
a  pity  they  were  out  of  tune. 

At   last   Granville   appeared   with   the   beautiful 

Castalia,   a    blaze    of    diamonds.     The    procession 

moved  and  we  reached  the  banquet-hall  full  of  tables. 

Making  the  circuit  of    them  we  passed    in   review 

1  The  Lord  Mayor  and  his  Lady. 


138  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1872. 

before  the  ranks.  At  the  end  of  the  route  we  met 
a  minister  of  Honduras  and  of  Spain.  I  breathed 
easy  again.  But  for  them  I  would  have  been  the 
senior  charges  d'affaires  and  would  have  had  to  do 
the  talking. 

At  last  we  found  our  places.  All  the  court  took 
places  ;  the  toast-master,  mounting  a  tribune  back 
of  the  Lord-Mayor.  The  Squires,  Sheriffs,  Mace- 
bearers,  and  Chaplains  to  the  right  and  left.  A 
kind  of  grace  was  said,  in  a  matter-of-fact  way,  of 
which  the  less  said  the  better. 

We  took  our  seats  opposite  some  tough  cold 
chicken,  which  (to  have  done  once  for  all  with  the 
menu)  was  the  only  dish  I  dared  to  touch. 

The  fete  began  at  seven  o*clock  with  God  save 
the  Queen,  The  music  unfortunately  was  insignif- 
icant, they  ought  to  have  had  a  Prussian  orchestra 
— Parlow's  for  example — and  have  played  something 
in  the  style  of  Wagner.  Nevertheless  the  effect  of 
the  hall  was  magnificent  with  Gog  and  Magog,  the 
old  stained-glass  windows,  the  platform  with  the 
small  arches,  and  the  golden  lights,  the  gigantic 
marble  statues  of  Pitt  and  of  the  other  pillars  of 
English  history.  I  saw  two  crimson-velvet  chairs 
and  was  wondering  to  myself  who  they  were  for, 
when  two  cooks  (they  might  have  come  out  of 
Rabelais)  with  frightful  cutlasses  got  into  them. 
Whole  beeves  were  put  before  them  and  they  cut 
Pantaguelistic  slices  with  an  absolute  ferocity.  I 
think  the  beeves  must  have  been  make-believe  for 
none  of  the  slices  came  our  way,  but  it  was  all  pict- 
uresque to  the  last  degree.      Then  the  speaking  be- 


1872.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  139 

gan.  "  My  Lords,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  charge 
your  glasses  !  **  Toast  followed  toast  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. Nuts  were  being  cracked  everywhere,  and 
at  the  bottom  of  the  room,  where  nobody  could 
hear  anything  and  every  one  was  bent  on  being 
heard,  they  let  off  fire-crackers.  After  the  toasts, 
came  the  hurrahs  at  a  signal  from  the  baton  of  the 
"  toast-master.**  There  was  a  flourish  of  trumpets 
before  and  afterwards  which  was  echoed  from  the 
table  of  honor  in  the  zenith  of  the  hall  opposite, 
where  the  orchestra  was  perched. 

Every  class  and  institution  of  English  society  was 
toasted.  The  beneficiaries  stood  up  to  receive  the 
compliment.  It  was  really  funny  to  see  the  woollen- 
wigs  stand  up  in  their  red  gowns.  We  were  toasted 
too,  as  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,"  but 
we  all  forgot  to  stand  up, — my  co-Republican,  the 
Belgian,  the  Spaniard  and  the  Honduras  ministers. 
This  unfortunate  (the  minister  from  Honduras)  re- 
plied after  refusing  many  times.  He  recited  a  little 
speech  an  hour  long,  improvised  some  years  since. 
He  had  attached  to  it  some  sort  of  a  panegyric,  on 
Gladstone,  and,  in  effect,  he  made  an  ass  of  him- 
self. 

A  sheriff  sitting  behind  me  said  in  an  undertone : 
"  He  would  be  more  welcome  if  he  could  simply 
announce  to  the  assembly  that  Honduras  was  going 
to  pay  her  debt !  '* 

All  danger  was  not  over  for  me,  and  my  heart 
began  to  beat  singularly  when  Granville  came  to  the 
treaty  of  commerce — it  was  the  back-bone  of  his 
argument.     He  began  very  gracefully  by  referring 


140  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOJsr,  [187^. 

to  **  the  most  distinguished  diplomatist/*  with  whom 
he  had  signed  the  treaty  four  days  before,  (Cheers). 
It  is  all  in  the  morning  papers.  It  was  my  neigh- 
bors, the  Misses  Dakin,  the  co-Republican,  and  the 
Spaniard  who  did  the  applauding ;  as  I  said,  it  is  all 
in  the  morning  papers  and  if  the  French  papers  copy 
it  pray  heaven  they  won't  forget  the  applause  !  I 
bowed  my  acknowledgments, — but  think  what  a 
hole  I  was  in  !  I  had  scarcely  heard  what  Lord 
Granville  said,  so  occupied  was  I  preparing  a  reply. 
Fortunately,  however,  the  toast-master  did  not  ask 
me  if  I  would  reply,  and  so  my  anxiety  began  to 
relax. 

All  this  lasted  until  eleven  o'clock.  What  a 
splendid  nation !  The  chief  honors  were  for  the 
new  Lord  Chancellor ;  then  for  Lord  Granville, — his 
wife  does  him  no  harm. 

I  spare  you  the  loving-cups,  and  the  basin  (pure 
gold)  of  rose-water ;  Fve  told  you  of  that  before. 


A.D.  1873. 

jSitracts  trom  tbe  Correspondence. 

London,  February  16,  1873. 

The  night  of  my  arrival  we  had  a  memorable 
meeting  in  Parliament.  Mr.  Gladstone  spoke  for 
three  hours  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  in  a  hall 
opposite  Lord  Selborne  held  an  interested  assembly 
for  the  same  length  of  time.  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
explaining,  with  infinite  art  and  skill,  his  project  for 
educational  reform  in  Ireland — a  beautiful  topic-r 
the  march  of  liberalism.  It  is  probable  that  he  will 
go  under  with  the  question,  and  he  knows  it,  but  he 
wishes  to  round  his  career  off  with  a  flourish,  and 
above  all,  to  hand  down  the  flourishing  to  his  succes- 
sors. 

London,  February  27,  1873. 

It  IS  snowing,  there  is  half  a  foot  on  the  ground 
and  a  great  deal  more  in  the  sky.  This  is  the  sort 
of  weather  for  Longfellow's  Jeremiads.  It  is  hard 
for  the  poor  people  who  have  no  fur  wraps  and  who 
must  pay  fifty  shillings  for  coal  this  year,  as  against 
twenty-five  last  year  and  fifteen  the  year  before. 

The  old  Dowager  Duchess  of  Cleveland^  is  an 
original.  I  arrived  at  eight  o'clock  just ;  and  a 
minute  afterward  the  dinner  was  on  the  table,  but 

1  Dowager  Duchess  of  Cleveland,  bom  in  1792. 

141 


142  A  DIPLOMAT  lAT  LONDON'.  [1873. 

the  guests  came  straggling  in  one  after  the  other. 
The  dinner  was  amusing.  The  Duchess,  who  does 
not  see  very  well,  asked  me  what  they  were  serving 
her,  and  I  could  not  tell  whether  it  was  meat,  vege- 
tables or  fish ;  but  it  was  skates  in  browned  butter^  and 
quite  in  the  proper  order.  At  the  close  she  asked 
for  a  special  kind  of  knife  to  cut  an  apple.  Lady 
Bentinck  was  there  with  her  daughter,  who  is  very 
beautiful,  with  blue  eyes  and  blonde  hair.  Also  my 
young  friend  Lord  Beresford  of  the  9th  Lancers  (a 
regiment  that  has  taken  me  into  favor).  After  the 
ceremony  of  passing  the  wine,  the  Duchess  sent  us 
word  that  it  was  time  to  return  to  the  drawing- 
room.     Everything  went  by  the  clock. 

I  made  haste  to  talk  to  my  beautiful  neighbor,  as 
I  wanted  to  know  about  this  miss  who  was  pink  and 
white,  tall,  and  well-dressed.  She  had  just  come  in 
from  the  country  that  morning  and  was  anxious  to 
return  for  the  hunt.  Three  times  a  week  at  least 
they  are  in  the  saddle,  often  from  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  night  fall,  and  enjoy  it  hugely.  They 
seldom  overtake  the  fox,  and  indeed  such  can  hardly 
be  said  to  be  their  object,  which  is  rather  to  ride  as 
fast  as  possible  and  leap  over  all  the  obstacles  in 
their  way.  Her  father  puts  eight  horses  at  her  dis- 
posal, which  she  mounts  indifferently.  There  are 
always  from  sixty  to  eighty  people  at  the  meet. 
When  they  let  the  fox  loose  all  rush  forward  with- 
out regard  for  each  other,  and  they  trample 
over  everything  as  naturally  as  you  please.  Rainy 
weather  is  the  best  for  the  sport.  As  for  accidents ; 
there  are  none.     It  is  much  easier  than  you  think  to 


I873-]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  143 

leap  hedges,  ditches  and  walls.  Thus  the  other  day 
she  sprang  over  a  rather  large  ditch  where  the  fox 
doubled  on  his  tracks  ;  as  she  was  coming  back  she 
saw  her  little  sister,  eleven  years  old,  who  had  fol- 
lowed her  over,  turn  and  jump  the  ditch  as  well 
as  she  could.  She  had  an  adventure  lately  that 
caused  some  excitement.  Two  months  ago  she  was 
returning  home  with  her  father  and  they  crossed  an 
inundated  plain.  The  water  was  up  to  the  horses* 
breasts.  Suddenly  her  horse  disappeared  in  a  ditch, 
she  under  him.  As  she  knew  how  to  swim,  she 
soon  reached  a  place  where  the  water  was  up  to  her 
chin.  Her  father  leapt  from  his  horse  and  joined 
her;  but  there  they  were,  stuck  in  the  mud,  unable 
to  move.  While  a  friend  went  to  get  them  help, 
one  of  the  horses  struggled  a  bit  and  then  sunk  be- 
fore their  eyes.  They  shouted  to  a  passing  railway 
train,  but  in  vain.  At  last  helpers  came  with  ropes 
and  they  were  pulled  out,  after  three-quarters-of-an 
hours*  cold  bath  in  the  month  of  December.  That 
evening  she  came  into  the  drawing-room  as  pink  and 
white  as  ever,  and  the  second  day  went  horseback 
riding  and  had  no  cold.  While  she  was  telling  me 
this  adventure,  which  interested  her  as  much  as  it 
did  me,  I  caught  some  significant  looks  from  the 
mother.  I  felt  that  I  was  in  the  way  of  something 
and  hastened  to  give  up  my  place  to  a  lieutenant, 
who  is  evidently  a  marriageable  cousin.  Decidedly 
the  next  time  I  go  to  talk  with  an  English  miss,  I 
shall  find  out  whether  she  is  there  for  amusement 
only  or  for  business..  I  do  not  know  what  they 
were  talking  about,  but  from  time  to  time  the  lieu- 


144  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1873. 

tenant   whistled   as  naturally  as   if  he  were  in  his 
stables.     It  is  all  very  odd. 

London,  February  28,  1873. 

The  royal  flag  is  floating  over  Buckingham  Pal- 
ace. It  is  a  great  event  in  London.  I  gave  my- 
self up  to  many  reflections  while  crossing  the  park 
and  watching  this  superstitious  crowd  who  were 
awaiting  the  appearance  of  the  sacred  person.  It  is 
the  supernatural  in  politics, — the  element  of  stability 
and  of  safety  amidst  perpetual  shift  and  change  in 
English  opinion  and  affairs. 

London,  March  2,  1873. 

Last  evening  I  went  to  the  *  Speaker*s '  house,  a  fine 
old  mansion  on  the  Thames,  connected  with  the  Par- 
liament. The  two  principal  rooms  contain  portraits 
of  all  the  *  Speakers '  since  the  first  Parliament.  I  ad- 
mired sincerely  this  continuous,  unbroken  testimony 
of  respect  for  law  and  liberty.  Some  members  of 
Parliament  have  made  an  appointment  with  me  for 
to-morrow ;  there  is  to  be  the  first  great  debate  on 
the  university.  The  government  is  much  shaken. 
Fifteen  days  ago  everybody  Avas  applauding  Glad- 
stone's speech,  now  no  one  wants  the  bill  to  pass. 
The  Protestants  refuse  to  share  their  revenues  with 
the  Catholics  ;  and  the  Catholics  do  not  want  to 
share  anything  with  the  Protestants,  but  want  the 
whole  appropriation  for  themselves  and  the  disinter- 
ested spectator  does  not  understand  a  transaction 
which  makes  everybody  discontented,  and  above  all 
those  who  are  to  profit  by  it. 


i873-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  145 

London,  March  31,  1873. 

A  very  agreeable  dinner,^  with  not  too  many  peo- 
ple, in  a  partially  disorganized  house.  I  made  the  ac- 
acquaintance  there  of  Mr.  Motley,  formerly  United 
States  minister,  whose  successor  causes  him  to  be  re- 
gretted. He  is  an  author  and  a  well-mannered  man, 
who  does  not  find  himself  very  comfortable  in  his 
great  Republic.  He  has  been  here  nineteen  years. 
His  daughter  was  present,  too,  and  is  as  fond  of  Europe 
as  he  is.  She  was  my  neighbor,  and  talked  very 
agreeably.  She  is  neither  beautiful  nor  ugly  to  look 
at.  On  the  other  side  I  had  a  Campbell,^  who  spoke 
to  me  frankly  of  the  time  when  he  was  in  the  wine 
business  at  Bordeaux,  then  in  tea  at  Liverpool ;  now 
he  is  partner  in  a  big  banking  house  in  the  city. 
He  is  the  brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Lome.  His 
wife  is  extremely  pretty.  When  he  presented  me  to 
her,  after  dinner,  she  pouted  a  bit  engagingly,  then, 
during  the  conversation,  when  she  discovered  that  I 
was  of  the  Embassy,  her  face  changed  suddenly; 
successes  of  that  sort  are  always  flattering.  My 
second  neighbor  w^as  the  Marquis  of  Ripon.^  He  is 
very  agreeable,  not  much  inclined  to  radical  reforms, 
although  he  is  a  member  of  the  Reform  Cabinet. 
The  thing  I  like  in  all  these  ministers  is  their  sim- 
plicity. Everybody  is  preparing  to  leave  town  for 
the  Easter  holidays. 

1  At  Lord  Granville's. 

2  Lord  Archibald  Campbell,  son  of  the  eighth  Duke  of  Argyle ; 
partner  in  the  bank  of  Coutts  and  Co. ;  married  in  1869  to  Miss  Cal- 
lander. 

8  Earl    Gray,   created    Marquis   of    Ripon   in   187 1.     Viceroy   to 
India  in  1880.     Catholic. 
IQ 


146  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-,  [1873. 

London,  April  13,  1873. 

Comte  von  Beust  presented  me  to  Lady  William,^ 
mother  of  the  three  Russells  ;  Duke  of  Bedford  2; 
Lord  Arthur,  M.  P.,^  and  Lord  Odo/  an  ambassador. 
I  came  here  feeling  a  httle  like  the  shepherd  who 
wanted  to  question  the  sphinx,  uncertain  of  the 
fate  that  awaited  him.  Every  one  in  London  who 
flatters  himself  he  knows  how  to  talk,  aspires  to  file 
before  her.  All  are  not  admitted,  and  if  but  few 
are  called,  still  fewer  are  chosen  ;  it  is  not  every  one 
that  would  like  to  come  back  that  can.  This  is 
where  Beust  lets  off  his  newest  puns  and  puts  them 
into  circulation.  Did  he  fetch  me  with  him  as  a 
compeer? 

Lady  William  Russell  has,  in  spite  of  her  eighty 
years,  a  remarkable  head  and  speaks  in  a  tone  of 
authority.  She  has  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world, 
kept  her  memories  fresh  and  has  ideas  on  all  sub- 
jects. Wife  of  the  minister  to  Portugal,  at  Berlin, 
and  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  she  knows  all 
Europe.  She  lives  in  a  confusion  of  books  and 
works  of  art  of  every  description.  You  feel  as  if 
you  were  going  along  the  passage-ways  of  a  sales- 
room in  reaching  her  corner  by  the  fire,  where  she 
sits  in  her  arm-chair.  She  has  been  an  invalid  for 
ten  years,  in  bed  all  day,  and  only  gets  up  to  receive. 

This  evening  the  Duke  of  Bedford  was  on  duty, 

1  Elizabeth  Rawdon,  died  in  1874. 

2  F.  G.  Hastings  Russell,  ninth  Duke  of  Bedford,  born  in  1819; 
died  in  1892. 

8  Lord  Arthur  Russell,  M.  P.,  died  in  1892. 

*  Odo  Russell,  created  Baron  Ampthill  in  i88i  ;  died  in  1884. 


1873.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  147 

for  Lady  William  is  never  without  one  of  her  sons. 
The  Duke  possesses  none  of  the  attributes  we  should 
ascribe  to  one  of  the  most  titled  and  richest  dukes 
of  England.  He  is  simple  and  courteous,  and  is  an 
ordinary  man  in  his  appearance  He  was  poor 
before  the  death  of  his  cousin,  who  was  a  little 
mad.  He  managed  his  estates,  and  used  to  carry 
dolls  to  him  to  amuse  him  with.  Who  can  be  sure 
that  this  cousin  was  not  secretly  married  ? 

London,  April  17,  1873. 

I  spent  a  part  of  to-day  at  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  When  I  saw  the  four  judges  in  their  wigs,  I 
fairly  groaned  that  I  had  not  George's  knack  for 
sketching.  One  of  them  in  especial.  What  a  head 
he  had!  A  perfect  John  Bull  in  a  wig!  And  the 
rest  were  not  much  behind  him.  I  got  a  good  Eng- 
lish lesson  there  without  paying  for  it,  and  I  will  go 
often,  varying  the  monotony  by  going  from  one 
room  to  another.  The  four  principal  courts  of  ap- 
peal are  at  Westminster  itself ;  you  entering  by  the 

large  hall. 

London,  April  21,  1873. 

Dined  at  the  Rothschilds*,  one  of  those  dinners 
where  you  drink  liquid  gold.  As  for  the  table  my 
impressions  are  summed  up  in  a  chicken  souffle  k  la 
Zingara ;  an  old  acquaintance  that  caught  my  eye 
from  the  moment  we  sat  down.  The  dinner  lasted 
fully  two  hours  and  a  half  without  a  break.  I  had 
taken  the  precaution  to  secure  my  old  friend  Hamil- 
ton Seymour  as  a  neighbor.  A  great  many  stories 
and  diplomatic  anecdotes  made  the  time  pass. 


148  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1873. 

On  our  returning  to  the   drawing-room  a  young 

gentleman  sang  comic  songs  to  us  in  many  tongues. 

As  he  has  no  fortune,  I  was  told  he  is  paid  for  it. 

Afterwards  another  son    of  a  lord    imitated  some 

actors   for   us ;  he  did  Mile.    Chaumont   much  too 

well   to  my  mind.     These    children  of  Israel   have 

lords  now  to  marry  their  daughters  and   to  amuse 

them  !    For  the  rest,  they  are  very  amiable  and  very 

charitable.      I  say  charitable,  having   Mme.  Lionel 

de  Rothschild  in  mind.     I  know  that  she  gives  more 

than  her  money,  which  has  no  value   to  her,  she 

gives  her  personal  attention.     She  is  interested  in 

our  bazar  and   has   introduced   me   to   a  Catholic, 

Miss  Gerard.     Now   that    I  know  her  I  have  one 

more  saleswoman. 

London,  April  30,  1873. 

I  am  writing  to  you  in  Lord  Granville's  waiting- 
room,  after  a  talk  with  the  senior  diplomatist  of 
Europe.  You  do  not  get  much  out  of  that  fine 
fellow,  Brunnow  :  a  malicious  hint  or  two  so  deli- 
cately touched  upon  that  it  leaves  you  in  doubt 
whether  they  were  really  touched  upon  or  not.  .  .  . 
He  gave  me,  however,  some  good  advice ;  he  has 
registered  his  name  for  the  king  of  Belgium  at 
Buckingham  Palace ;  and  I  am  going  to  do  the 
same.  Before  doing  so,  however,  I  must  see  Lord 
Granville  and  inspire  him  with  some  of  my  con- 
fidence about  the  condition  of  affairs  in  France.^  I 
spent  last  night  deciphering  a  telegram  which  filled 
me  with  a  feeling  of  confidence  which  it  is  evidently 

^  M.  Barodet  had  been  nominated  deputy  of  Paris,  and  the  situation 
between  the  National  Assembly  and  M.  Thiers  had  become  strained. 


I873-]  ^  ^^PL  OMA  T  IN  L  ONDON.  1 49 

my  duty  to  hand  on  to  those  about  me  here — as 
indeed  I  had  been  trying  to  do  before  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  president  arrived  ;  I  had  written  as 
much  yesterday  to  M.  de  Remusat.  I  find  that 
my  premises  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  President; 
I  wish  I  could  be  certain  we  shall  reach  the  same 
conclusions. 

Cham  has  sent  a  good  water-color  for  the  bazar. 
Un  chiffonnier  ivre :^  **To  think  that  if  it  weren't 
for  those  scamps  at  Versailles — /  should  be  the  am- 
bassador at  London  !  *' — a  subject  chosen  for  the 
occasion.  He  might  well  have  a  chance  to  be  the 
ambassador  now. 

London,  Monday,  May  5,  1873. 

Here  is  what  happens  when  a  successor  of  the 
dukes  and  peers,  who  formerly  represented  France 
abroad,  goes  to  pay  his  respects  to  a  king  passing 
through  the  country.^ 

Just  as  he  puts  up  his  umbrella  to  go  get  a  cab, 
an  elegant  coup^  stops  at  his  door — it  is  his  tailor. 
It  was  impossible  to  refuse  Mr.  Cook  the  honor  of 
saving  me  from  the  rain  and  to  conduct  me  to 
Buckingham  Palace.  I  shan't  tell  the  Queen  nor 
•3f  *  *  {  On  the  way  the  tailor  gave  me  five  pounds 
for  the  bazar,^  and  announced  that  his  wife  is  going 
to  make  some  purchases  there.  I  got  out  of  the 
coup^  and  found  Solvyns,*  who  awaited  me  in  the 

1  A  drunken  rag-picker. 

2  M.  Gavard  must  have  paid  his  respects  to  the  king  of  Belgium, 
who  was  passing  through  London. 

3  Sale  for  the  benefit  of  French  works  in  London. 

*  Baron  Solvyns,  minister  of  Belgium,  died  in  1893. 


150  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1873. 

first  drawing-room,  and  presently  I  found  myself  in 
the  presence  of  His  Belgium  Majesty  :  a  personage 
with  a  big  nose,  big  beard  and  drawling  speech.  By 
and  by  I  joined  in  the  conversation  ;  we  talked 
about  the  Treaty  of  Commerce,  about  the  personnel 
of  the  Embassy,  about  the  elections,  about  his  pas- 
sage across  the  Channel.  The  Queen  said  that  a  bit 
of  seasickness  helped  to  make  one  appreciate  the 
happiness  of  disembarking  on  the  other  side.  I 
replied  mechanically,  "  It  is  a  bit  of  purgatory  before 
the  entrance  into  paradise.'*  His  Majesty  did  me 
the  honor  to  understand  and  to  strengthen  my 
words  by  saying  to  me  that  it  was  about  true.  I 
found  means  to  give  him  news  of  the  Comte  de 
Paris.  After  which  I  left,  and  no  longer  having 
my  tailor  at  the  door,  I  raised  my  umbrella  and 
went  out  into  the  shower.  Can  anybody  say  after 
that  that  the  old  order  of  things  has  not  passed  away  ? 

I  spent  part  of  my  day  listening  to  the  Tichborne 
Case.  How  can  such  a  trial  be  tolerated  and  so  many 
months,  and  the  lives  of  so  many  distinguished  men 
be  consumed  in  thrust  and  counter-thrust  a  propos  of 
such  rubbish  ! 

It  is  a  pretext  for  speculating  and  betting  simply. 
Tichborne  was  turned  loose  as  they  turn  loose 
a  fox.  Not  that  Tichborne  himself  resembles  a  fox ; 
he  is  more  like  an  elephant.  They  have  been 
obliged  to  cut  out  a  circle  in  the  table  at  which  he 
sits  cutting  bits  of  paper  and  braiding  baskets.  The 
only  thing  that  is  comparable  to  the  scandal  itself  is 
the  smell  of  the  place. 

The  English  crowd  has  an  odor  of  concentrated 


1^7 3'i  ^  ^^PL OMA  T  IN  L ONDOI^.  i^i 

misery  that  we  never  meet  in  France,  even  among 
the  electors  of  Barodet. 

London,  May  8,  1873. 

A  word  of  advice  to  those  who  believe  that  the 
English  have  a  right  to  do  as  they  like.  I  started 
to  go  to  the  Court  Theatre  to-night  and  found  the 
doors  closed.  Lord  Sydney,  the  grand  chamber- 
lain, was  there  last  night  and  found  the  play 
unwholesome  and  has  forbidden  its  being  given. 
A  good-natured  actor  had  had  the  audacity  to  give 
a  take-off  on  Gladstone  and  Lowe.  The  portrait  of 
Gladstone  was  a  great  hit,  so  I  am  told.  He  was 
represented  receiving  an  embassy  from  China  which 
had  come  to  ask  him  for  Scotland.  The  Prime 
Minister  reflected,  then  he  said  there  were  three 
courses  open  to  him.  The  first  was  to  hand  Scot- 
land over  at  once ;  the  second  was  to  wait  a  bit  and 
then  hand  it  over;  the  third  (and  this  was  the 
course  he  took)  was  to  submit  it  to  arbitration.  It 
was  cleverly  done.  I  have  just  been  to  a  **  Drawing- 
Room.**  Had  two  hours  of  diamonds  and  trains  of 
all  colors.  It  is  rather  a  fine  sight  to  see  so  many 
millions  sterling  promenading  about,  with  now  and 
then  a  beautiful  woman.  The  most  agreeable  was 
Lady  Archibald  Campbell,  wife  of  the  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Argyle.  She  is  very  pretty  and  well 
dressed.  Solvyns  got  off  a  good  thing:  "England 
is  the  country  where  No.  2  goes  to  see  No.  i  in 
order  that  he  may  brag  of  it  at  No.  3*s." 

London,  May  9,  1873. 

A  new  Conservative  election  at  Bath.    It  is  an  in- 


IJjS  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1S73. 

dication,  a  hint,  but  not  too  implicitly  to  be  relied 
on  in  this  country,  where  by-elections  always  go 
against  the  party  in  power.  The  country  wants  a 
bit  of  time  to  breathe,  and  moreover  the  Conserva- 
tives are  powerfully  organized.  Ah  !  if  we  could 
only  do  as  they  do  here  ;  they  have  newspapers, 
associations  of  all  kinds,  pleasure-parties,  and  reg- 
istering of  electors.  They  are  occupied  with  the 
elector  all  the  time,  they  are  always  in  communica- 
tion  with  him;  publicly  in  the  meetings,  and 
privately  in  the  associations,  workingmen*s  clubs, 
etc. 

I  finished  my  letter  in  the  city.  First  I  made  a 
long  stay  at  the  *^  school-board.'*  I  continue  to  col- 
lect useful  points  on  primary  education  in  London. 
Then  for  two  hours  I  went  about  in  the  numberless 
alleys  of  the  city.  It  is  a  queer  picture,  this  ant- 
hill. They  have  tortured  space,  without  regard  for 
looks  or  for  the  souls  or  the  imaginations  of  the  in- 
habitants. Everywhere  you  find  buildings  in  black 
stone  and  only  room  enough  left  free  for  the  people 
(whose  eyes  and  senses  generally,  except  their  de- 
sire for  money,  they  deaden),  to  move  about  in. 

London,  May  13,  1873. 

I  have  had  an  interesting  day.  The  baroness^ 
had  given  me  a  rendezvous  at  her  Jewish  school  at 
Whitechapel.  In  going  there  you  have  to  make 
your  way  through  the  alleys  of  the  East  End.  You 
can  study  there  the  phenomena  of  spontaneous  gen- 
eration, and  the  germination  of  infusoria  in  the  de- 

1  Baroness  Rothschild. 


1S73.]  -^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  153 

composition  of  organic  bodies.  A  bit  depressed 
by  the  filth  of  the  route,  I  reached  the  school.  I 
visited  first  the  kitchen,  for  the  Jews  who  are 
impoverished  and  ill ;  it  is  a  veritable  school  of 
cleanliness — a  pearl  in  a  dung-hill.  They  served  a 
very  appetizing  lunch.  In  the  schools  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  two  thousand  eight  hundred  little 
IsraeHtes  of  both  sexes  and  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  I  should  have  recognized  almost  all  of  them 
by  their  faces — a  fact  which  speaks  well  for  the  pu- 
rity of  the  Jewish  race  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe 
and  in  every  social  station — for  the  children  that  I 
saw  were  those  of  the  poorer  class  only.  They 
enter  the  school  at  three  years  of  age,  sometimes  at 
two,  almost  naked,  and  they  leave  it,  from  eleven  to 
thirteen,  clothed  from  head  to  foot,  reading  and 
writing  English  well  and  able  to  decipher  Hebrew. 
The  thing,  however,  that  I  admire  more  than  the 
school  (which  is  certainly  splendid)  is  the  generosity 
that  keeps  it  going.  It  is  nothing  like  so  difficult  to 
find  the  school  as  it  is  to  find  Simone.^  The  man- 
ager of  the  institution,  a  veteran  instructor,  and 
proud  as  Lucifer,  did  not  seem  to  be  of  this  opinion 
when  he  said  to  me :  "  In  my  six  classes  I  simply 
say  some  words,  and  make  men  out  of  animals ;  they 
bring  me  embryos  simply  which  I  supply  with 
bodies  dnd  souls.*'  And  indeed  from  one  room  to 
another,  as  they  grow  older,  you  notice  the  im- 
provement in  cleanliness,  in  clothes,  in  intelligence, 
and  in  learning.  When  some  girls  were  questioned 
on  geography,  one  of  the  little  witches  replied 
1  Allusion  to  Count  Musset. 


154  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1873. 

that  the  Rhine  separated    France  from  Germany ! 
Alas! 

Madame  Rothschild  has  sent  me  a  lot  of  pretty 
prizes.     She  has  a  genius  for  charity. 

London,  May  14,  1873. 

The  Queen  will  not  be  present  at  her  concert  this 
evening.  She  was  at  her  levee  the  other  day  and 
presided  half  an  hour,  then  she  went  to  the  Exposi- 
tion to  see  an  omelette  made,  and  to  listen  to  a 
lecture  on  omelettes.  The  English  recognize  the 
superiority  of  the  French  in  things  of  that  kind,  and 
are  trying  hard  to  take  it  from  them.  They  have 
associations,  meetings,  lectures,  encouragements  of 
the  Queen,  articles  in  the  newspapers  ....  happy 
people ! 

Yesterday  all  London  was  in  the  park,  ten  thou- 
sand carriages  to  see  forty  ^*  mail-coaches  "  make  a 
**  show  "  for  the  Queen  of  Belgium. 

London,  May  19,  1873. 

Last  night  I  went  to  the  Court  Theatre  with 
Conolly.^  The  first  thing  was  a  really  primitive 
piece.  It  was  the  infancy  of  art.  Everything  came 
on  at  the  right  moment.  It  was  expressly  written 
for  the  occasion.  Great  care  had  been  taken  with 
the  scenery — there  was  a  garden  on  the  Thames  at 
Twickenham,  the  sign  even  of  a  neighboring  public- 
house  was  exact,  the  people  are  in  front  of  it,  and 
the  grass,  reaching  to  the  foot-lights,  is  so  real  you 
^  General  Conolly,  military  attache,  died  in  1885. 


1873]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN-  LONDON,  155 

could  eat  it ;  daisies  are  growing  in  the  grass  and  on 
an  opposite  hill, — they  are  so  real  you  want  to  pick 
them.  When  the  dialogue  moves,  the  sun  moves ; 
he  rises  and  sets ;  the  moon  in  her  turn  rises  too, 
and  you  see  her  reflection  in  the  Thames;  and 
then  you  hear  the  nightingales — it  is  charming. 
But  what  became  of  the  piece  ?  I  have  forgotten 
it.  This  is  dramatic  art !  Everything  is  in  the 
accessories  and  not  in  the  plot.  It  is  easier  to  make 
the  sun  and  moon  move  and  the  birds  sing  than  to 
make  the  actors  talk  or  to  animate  them  with  a 
passion  that  would  move  the  spectators.  The  even- 
ing ended  with  the  farce  of  the  **  Happy  Land  "  ;  a 
political  caricature,  rather  broad  ;  but  the  characters 
of  the  men  were  well  enough  drawn. 

I  forgot  to  mention  another  great  resource  of  the 
dramatic  authors  in  this  country.  They  put  colored 
glass  (red,  green  or  blue)  in  front  of  the  footlights. 

London,  May  20,  1873. 

Yesterday  we  finished  our  sale  with  great  success.^ 
We  shall  have  a  thousand  pounds.  We  shall  make 
Sister  Lucie's  works  live  if  we  cannot  make  her 
live.  Poor  sainted  woman !  Her  hands  are  skin 
and  bone,  and  yet  what  energy  she  shows.  The  rush 
over,  and  the  crowd  parted,  the  Sisters  arrived,  busy 
as  ants,  to  pick  up  and  put  things  away.  The  auc- 
tioneer was  a  Colonel  M.  At  the  stroke  of  the  clock 
he  was  on  the  platform.  ...  It  takes  the  English  for 
perfect  calm  and  self-possession  in  public.  ...  It 
was  really  amusing. 

1  Sale  of  French  works  in  London. 


156  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1873. 

There  has  been  a  ball  at  court.  There  is  always 
the  same  ceremony  with  the  chamberlains  in  green. 
And  God  Save  the  Queen  comes  in  everywhere, 
— the  orchestra  put  one  to  sleep.  Literally,  toward 
one  o'clock  I  was  asleep  standing  bolt  upright, — I 
was  afraid  I  should  fall  all  of  a  heap. 

London,  May  24,  1873. 

I  received  the  Times  at  half-past  seven,  and  read  to 
many  Parisians  the  address  of  the  Duke  (de  Broglie). 
The  question  seems  to  me  well  put ;  the  majority 
well  rallied,  and  now  (mid-day)  M.  Thiers  has 
already  finished  speaking.^  It  is  useless,  however,  to 
indulge  in  conjectures,  I  must  wait  the  issue. 
That  reminds  me  of  the  conclusion  of  my  last  con- 
versation with  M.  Guizot ;  he  said,  **  When  M.  Thiers 
gets  into  a  fix,  he  will  knock  under."  Since  I  am 
quoting  from  great  men,  Cochin  repeated  M.  Thiers* 
remark,  that  the  Due  de  Broglie  was  the  only 
person  to  whom  he  allowed  perfect  independence. 

Yesterday  I  was  restless  and  went  to  the  spring 
exhibition.  It  was  frightfully  flat,— what  a  lot  of 
time  and  color  wasted.  There  were  some  new  por- 
traits—a Miss  Dorothy,  very  simple ;  but  well  han- 
dled and  elegant;  and  nothing  else  to  speak  of. 
The  Marine  pieces,  for  the  most  part,  are  well  con- 
ceived. But  when  you  have  seen  the  public  you 
understand  the  artists  better.  The  public  thinks 
only  of  the  subject,  and  of  whether  it  is ''  sensational  '* 
or  *'  moral."  If  it  is,  they  are  satisfied,  and  show  it  by 
a  little  note  in  their  catalogue,  v/hich,  by  the  way, 

1  He  refers  to  the  debate  following  which  M.  Thiers  left  office' 


1873.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  157 

they  consult  as  often  as  they  do  the  picture.  There 
was  one  masterpiece  there  in  two  divisions :  on  one 
side  the  children  before  going  to  school,  on  the 
other  side  the  same  on  leaving  school.  The  first 
dirty,  thin,  and  in  rags ;  the  others  clean,  large,  plump, 
and  comfortably  clothed.  Under  the  picture  there 
was  a  Biblical  inscription  ;  above  it  was  printed, 
"  One  Hundred  Thousand  Children  in  London 
without  a  School."  For  this  conscientious  public, 
this  picture  is  the  climax  of  art ; — unless  some  one 
could  paint  a  little  onion  so  real  it  would  make  their 
eyes  water. 

They  don't  deal  with  the  nude,  they  have  no 
notion  of  design,  there  is  neither  blood  nor  life  in 
their  figures ;  when  the  colors  on  the  canvas  are 
not  pallid  they  swear  at  each  other ;  the  composition 
is  generally  childish,  and  there  is  a  total  lack  of 
atmosphere  about  or  behind  the  personages  de- 
picted. 

The  great  artist  who  paints  portraits  by  special 
favor  at  fifty  thousand  francs  apiece — nay,  at  seventy- 
five  thousand  if  he  throws  in  a  pot  of  flowers — 
excels  in  painting  wax-figures  draped  in  gaudy 
dresses,  and  no  one  can  surpass  Tissot,  our  com- 
patriot, in  sticking  them  on  screens.  They  love 
details  here,  blades  of  grass,  wild  flowers  and  leaves 
of  trees.  They  display  less  feeling  for  the  forest, 
the  meadow,  the  total  effect,  the  simple  idea,  the 
dominant  thought,  the  mysterious  something  that 
was  not  in  the  model :  that  is  a  thing  not  under- 
stood anywhere,  I  am  well  aware,  but  less  so  here 
than  in  France.     There  is  no  statuary  here ;  per- 


158  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1873. 

haps  it  is  the  fault  of  the  cHmate !  A  Bacchante 
printaniere  by  Carpeaux  shines  in  this  desert ;  also 
a  terra-cotta,  simple  and  touching  in  its  reality  (the 
mother  and  the  child),  by  another  Frenchman.  Do 
you  know  M.  Dalou  in  France? 

And  now  this  evening  we  must  go  from  one  re- 
ception to  another  without  knowing  quite  who  or 
what  we  represent.     They  are  given  in  honor  of  the 

Queen^s  birthday. 

London,  May  25,  1873. 

I  took  courage  yesterday  from  the  account  given 
of  M.  Thiers'  speech.  I  had  feared  some  clap-trap. 
At  six  o'clock,  Rothschild  allowed  me  the  range  of 
the  Fxchange,  but  that  does  not  signify  very  much. 
Lord  Granville  came  to  the  *'  Foreign  Offices  ''  at  mid- 
night to  tell  me  that  ''  Thiers  was  beaten  by  four- 
teen votes.'*  I  had  arrived  at  about  eleven  o'clock, 
representing  the  government  of  M.  Thiers.  I  replied 
to  Lord  Granville  that  I  believed  all  would  go  well 
with  the  government.  I  had  stayed  as  late  as  pos- 
sible to  get  the  news,  and  toward  half-past  twelve 
learned  it  from  Lord  Granville.  Learned  that  I 
no  longer  represented  the  same  government  that  I 
had  on  entering  the  Foreign  Office  ;  or,  at  least,  that 
M.  Thiers  had  been  beaten  and  had  resigned.  I 
told  him  confidently  that  I  had  reason  to  believe 
that  all  would  go  well  with  the  government  I  repre- 
sented. We  were  inclined  to  look  on  the  amusing 
side  of  the  necessities  and  commonplaces  of  an 
official  situation,  and  we  parted  with  a  burst  of 
laughter  that  had  nothing  official  about  it. 

I  saw  by  this  morning's  Observer  of  the  nominav 


1873]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  159 

tion  of  MacMahon.     Lady  G.  Fullerton,  who  was 
there,  was  so  happy  she  almost  embraced  me. 

London,  May  26,  4  o'clock. 

I  have  just  returned  from  the  levee.  Every  one 
is  surprised  that  Paris  has  not  been  sacked.  If  I 
had  been  my  own  master  I  would  have  avoided  be- 
ing there  to-day,  in  especial  as  I  did  not  know  what 
to  reply  to  the  questions. 

(After  May  24  M.  Gavard  was  made  chief  of  the 

Cabinet  of   the   Due  de  Broglie.     He   returned  to 

London  in  December,  when  the  Duke  was  no  longer 

minister  of  foreign  affairs,  having    been  appointed 

minister  of  the  interior.     Comte  Harcourt  was  no 

longer  ambassador ;  he  was  replaced  by  the  Due  of 

Bisaccia). 

London,  December  10,  1873. 

Had  a  capital  passage.  Stayed  on  the  bridge  all 
the  way  giving  advice  to  the  captain  !  The  Dover- 
Chatham  train,  was  cold  and  I  found  a  **  dark  fog  ** 
on  arriving  in  London.  In  crossing  the  fog  I  rec- 
ognized my  friend  Dutreil.^  We  hailed  each 
other,  and  then  getting  into  a  hansom  rode  slowly 
through  the  fog  to  Albert  Gate,  and  here  I  am  Minis- 
ter of  France  in  London.  What  a  contrast !  Day 
before  yesterday  I  was  at  Versailles  at  the  centre  of 
things  ;  here  I  am  to-day  at  the  end  of  a  telegraph- 
wire  in  a  depth  of  silence  and  fog.  I  used  to  like 
this  fog  and  quiet ;  why  is  it  that  I  cannot  be  con- 
tented now  ?  Besides,  this  humidity  and  quietness 
is  good  for  the  nerves. 

1 M.  Bernard  Dutriel,  then  secretary  to  the  Embassy ;  he  is  now 
senator;  he  became  chief  of  the  cabinet  in  place  of  M.  Gavard. 


l6o  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1873. 

London,  December  11,  1873. 

Man  cannot  live  by  fog  alone  ;  it  is  a  great  pity  in 
this  country !     I  shall  come  to  it  by  and  by. 

London  is  deserted — no  one  at  the  Foreign  Ofifice, 
no  one  anywhere.  I  have  seen  Beust,  who  despairs 
of  having  the  new  ambassador  at  his  dinner.  By- 
landt,^  is  amiable  as  always  ;  and  Solvyns  returned 
from  Italy.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  unpacking  and 
full  of  enthusiasm  about  his  luggage. 

Lord  Stanhope  has  been  here  lamenting  what  he 
regards  as  Bazaine*s  hard  fate.  His  great  argument 
is  the  letter  of  Frederick  Charles,  as  if  the  conqueror 
could  be  got  to  declare  that  the  man  he  vanquished 
was  nothing  but  a  clown,  who  surrendered  his  stand- 
ards treasonably. 

Brunnow  shed  tears  of  joy  on  seeing  me  again. 
He  told  me  I  owed  my  success  here  to  Lord  Gran- 
ville, who  had  real  affection  for  me  ;  and  that  that 
was  the  reason  he  made  things  easy  for  me.  I  am 
struck  by  the  strides  the  Due  de  Broglie  has  made 
here  in  public  opinion. 

London,  December  15,  1873. 

A  great  number  of  diplomatists,  indeed,  all  the 
diplomatic  corps,  may  come  together  in  a  salon  with- 
out giving  any  one  any  pleasure.  I  am  never  so 
discouraged  as  at  these  family  reunions.  Last  night 
it  was  at  the  Swedish  Embassy.  Every  one  ac- 
cepted the  invitation ;  they  came  like  hungry  wolves, 
but  they  took  very  little  away  with  them.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  stay  at  home  in  front  of  an  open  fireplace, 
1  Count  of  Bylandt,  Minister  of  Holland ;  died  in  1893. 


1873.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  i6l 

with  a  good  lamp,  with  the  shutters  closed,  and  a 
sense  that  the  cold  and  fog  are  prowling  around  out- 
side. 

Yesterday,  in  passing  the  Court  of  Appeals,  I  went 
in  to  listen,  for  practice  in  English,  and  what  do  you 
suppose  I  saw?  The  same  judges,  the  same  jury 
in  the  box,  the  same  Tichborne,  with  the  same 
stomach,  in  front  of  the  same  table  as  seven  months 
ago! 

I  dined  at  '*  Hay  ward  Corner/*  Toward  nine 
o'clock  our  friend  was  tipsy.  I  stayed  talking  with 
an  antiquarian,  who  was  not  so  tipsy.  We  talked 
about  an  unknown  letter  (from  Pompeii)  which  we 
had  found  at  the  library,  in  a  rare  edition  of  the 
papers  of  Sallust.  Such  are  the  distractions  of  bache- 
lors.    The  letter  itself  did  not  amount  to  anything. 

Ask  Vaney  ^  if  corum  sepulcre  is  a  solecism.  The 
question  that  is  exciting  this  happy  people  just  now, 
IS  whether  or  not  the  Dean  of  Westminster  has  made 
a  grammatical  error.  Oxford  opened  the  discussion, 
then  came  a  reply,  and  then  outsiders  intervened. 
Poor  Dean  Stanley  is  likely  to  be  convicted  of  hav- 
ing written  theological  Latin.  It  is  hard  on  him. 
Who  would  suppose  that  theology  would  spoil  his 
Latin  P^  It  seems  that  coram  cannot  have  the  name 
of  a  thing  for  an  object.  Meurand^  himself  would 
perhaps  have  been  caught  there. 

There  is  a  new  excitement  here.  Some  people 
wanted  to  put  a  canopy  over  the  high  altar  in  the 

1  Advisor  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  at  Paris  ;  died  in  1893. 

2  Mr.  Stanley,  Dean  of  Westminster,  was  thought  rather  sceptical. 
^  Director  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


l62  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1873 

church  of  St.  Barnaby,  Pimlico  !  The  whole  Church 
rose  in  arms.  If  the  Pope  himself  had  invaded  Eng- 
land they  would  not  have  made  more  noise.  Happy 
people  ! 

This  morning,  as  I  was  trying  on  my  frock-coat, 
I  told  my  tailor,  the  celebrated  Cook,  a  lot  of 
things,  which  he  repeated  ten  minutes  afterward  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  whom  he  dresses,  and  chats 
with  as  he  does  with  me ! 

London,  December  18,  r873, 

The  upholsterer  of  the  Due  de  Bisaccia  is  draw- 
ing up  plans  and  taking  measurements.  He  seems 
determined  to  do  things  on  a  grand  scale.  He  does 
not  spare  materials.  All  trace  of  the  past  will  dis- 
appear under  the  new  draperies,  mirrors  and  pict- 
ures. At  this  rate  we  might  all  of  us  outdo  the 
Marquise. 

My  tailor  did  his  commission  very  well.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  sent  me  word  to  make  my  arrange- 
ments with  his  aide-de-camp,  General  Knollys. 

London,  December  21,  1873. 

IVe  been  to  say  good-bye  to  Beust.  He  vowed 
that  if  he  was  not  always  on  the  eve  of  departing, 
he  could  not  endure  the  dreariness  of  the  life  here. 
If  you  do  succeed  in  seeing  any  one  in  London  it 
is  only  for  an  instant  as  you  pass,  and  during  the 
season  you  pass  each  other  on  the  run.  For  a  bit 
of  talk  you  must  go  five  or  six  hours  on  the  train. 
It  seems  that  Lord  Granville  returns  this  evening, 
but  leaves  again   to-morrow    evening   for   Walmer 


1873]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  163 

Castle  and  when  he  reaches  there,  he  will  lift  the 
drawbridge  and  shut  down  the  portcullis.  I  shall 
see  him  to-morrow ;  it  will  be  the  last  time  for 
three  weeks  at  least. 

To  divert  my  mind  from  my  writing,  I  went  for  a 
few  minutes  to  the  Athenaeum  to  fumble  in  the 
books.  I  was  either  too  tired  or  too  anxious  to  read 
them,  but  I  took  them  down,  turned  them  over, 
handled  them.  I  have  noticed  that  one  always 
finds  something  one  wants,  even  in  that  way. 

London,  December  23,  1873. 

There  are  times  when  I  seriously  ask  myself 
whether  this  is  the  profession  I  have  chosen.  The 
satisfactions  it  procures  me  are  so  small  and  the 
deprivations  so  cruel.  I  keep  repeating  to  myself 
that  it  won*t  last  long.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
last  night  a  very  coarse  caricature  of  two  French 
plays.  One  something  like.  La  Fille  de  VAveuglCy 
by  Bayard,  the  other  Le  chapeau  de  paille  d' Italic. 
There  was  too  much  respect  shown  to  the  authors 
to  mention  their  names,  but  how  they  were  mangled  ! 
All  the  fine  things  were  left  out ;  they  do  not 
understand  them ;  and  they  were  replaced  by 
brutalities.  They  find  a  means  here  of  being  coarse 
without  shocking  their  morals.  We  do  just  the 
contrary  in  France.  One  thing  struck  me :  after 
the  curtain  went  down  on  the  poor  piece  entitled 
Alone,  all  the  actors,  as  is  the  custom,  came  before 
the  curtain,  and  the  manager,  Mrs.  Lutton,  was 
hissed.  It  was  very  unjust,  as  she  was  really  the 
only  one  who  showed  passion,  expression  or  charm 


l64  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1873. 

in  her  acting.  The  hissing  was  done  by  but  one 
man,  and  nobody  cried  "  Put  him  out  *' — there  were 
no  protests  made  against  him.  Every  one  expresses 
his  opinion  freely  here  even  in  the  theatre.  One 
man  may  hiss  while  all  the  rest  of  the  house  is 
applauding. 

I  have  been  at  last  to  hear  some  music  in  London. 
A  woman  played  the  trumpet  !  Can  you  imagine 
it  ?  What  a  happy  idea  !  A  rival  virtuoso  (also 
female)  played  the  violin  ;  and  a  man  brought  tears 
to  your  eyes  on  the  accordeon. 

London,  December  25,  1873. 

The  fog  is  so  dense  and  the  streets  so  deserted, 
that  I  fancy  it  would  be  dangerous  to  be  on  them, 
so  I  have  stayed  rigorously  shut  up  in  my  room, 
and  have  only  put  my  nose  out  of  doors  to  go  to 
Mass.  Which  when  all  is  said  is  solitude  at  its 
best. 

About  three-quarters  of  the  English  are  drunk  at 
this  hour.  These  holidays  are  expensive  for  the 
poor  families.  I  followed  one  in  Hyde  Park  this 
morning.  The  father  was  carrying  a  heavy  bundle, 
while  the  mother  carried  a  nursing  child,  and  then 
four  other  little  ones  followed  as  best  they  could. 
One  of  them  coughed  and  cried  fit  to  break  your 
heart.  They  were  all  in  rags  that  hardly  covered 
the  skin,  but  for  all  that  they  were  evidently  dressed 
in  their  best  for  a  holiday.  The  way  the  toddlers 
followed  their  parents,  with  slackening  steps,  seemed 
to  mark  the  solemnity  of  Christmas.  The  poor 
baby  cried  so  hard  that  the  father  took  it  and  gave 


1873]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON,  1 65 

his  load  to  the  oldest  girl,  and  the  little  band  con- 
tinued. The  girl,  who  staggered  with  the  weight  of 
the  load,  followed  at  a  distance.  I  really  wanted  to 
help  her !  This  wretched  little  group  filed  by 
beneath  the  windows  of  Dorchester  House,  only  to 
pass  a  few  steps  further  on  to  the  house  of  Lord 
Dudley  and  the  Grosvenor  House.  The  contrast  is 
perpetual  here,  and  is  a  mystery  in  economics  that 
I  can  never  solve — so  much  charity  and  such 
frightful  poverty  ! 

London,  December  31,  1873. 

I  have  gotten  the  necessary  letters  off,  but  the 
thing  that  wastes  my  time  is  the  cargo  that  comes 
by  each  train — the  squad  of  cooks,  footmen,  coach- 
men, horses  and  carriages.  Where  to  lodge  them  ? 
At  the  last  minute  a  telegram  comes — it  has  been 
delayed.  I  must  rent  stables  and  rooms,  buy  fur- 
niture, establish  order  in  the  house.  Each  new 
arrival  wants  a  complete  apartment. 

Due  de  Bisaccia  will  be  here  himself  to-morrow. 
His  splendid  silver  has  arrived,  and  he  sent  word 
that  all  the  servants  must  be  powdered  to  receive  him, 
— that  would  be  all  right  if  I  am  not  to  be  requested 
to  do  the  same. 

The  Queen  will  receive  him  at  once  at  the  Isle  of 
Wight. 


THE  YEAR  1874. 
;eittact0  from  tbe  CorreeponDence* 

London,  January  2,  1874. 

Last  night  there  was  a  reception  for  the  ambas- 
sador.^ He  IS  very  pleasant.  It  ought  to  be  not 
bad  living  with  him.     We  agree  perfectly  about  the 

work.  .  .  . 

London,  January  3,  1874. 

The  Duke  has  returned  this  morning  from 
Osborne.  Everything  has  turned  out  for  the  best. 
The  Queen  welcomed  him  as  if  he  were  7iot  the  am- 
bassador of  France.  She  chatted  all  the  time  about 
his  parents,  and  of  his  children.  It  is  certainly 
better  for  an  ambassador  to  be  the  son-in-law  of 
Prince  de  Polignac,  and  of  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  the 
son  or  heir  of  a  great  name,  than  **  Monsieur  So- 
and-so.'*  I  am  convinced  that  he  has  made  a  capital 
beginning.  The  account  of  the  visit  to  Osborne  I 
prepared  myself.  It  is  written  in  a  tone  of  deliber- 
ate understatement,  but  nothing  has  been  left  out — 
everything  is  stated  with  scrupulous  exactitude. 
Ten  to  one  such  and  such  a  person,  who  shall  be 
nameless,  could  not  make  the  Queen  or  Lord  Gran- 
ville talk  to  such  good  effect.  The  Duke  has  evi- 
dently succeeded  ;  his  proceedings  have  done  him  no 
1  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld  Bisaccia. 

J  66 


1874.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  167 

harm  ;  he  has  squandered  money  in  profusion  which 
will  do  him  good  below  stairs, — reputation  often 
mounts  from  below  upward. 

London,  January  4,  1874. 

The  Tichborne  case  still  continues.  We  are  at 
the  one  hundred-and-fiftieth  hearing.  Yesterday 
the  chief-justice  and  foreman  of  the  jury  lost  their 
patience.  It  is  now  nearly  a  year  that  these  twelve 
unhappy  jurymen  have  been  in  the  box  ;  taken  away 
from  their  own  duties  to  judge  a  man  whose  culpa- 
bility is  as  evident  as  can  be, — but  English  law  does 
not  admit  evidence  without  proof.  Yesterday  the 
"  learned  counsellor,'*  for  so  they  call  the  miserable 
lawyer  who  dared  organize  and  plead  this  attempt 
at  robbery,  with  infamous  slander,  contested  the 
deposition  of  a  colonel  who  declares  he  saw  the 
tattooing  on  the  arm  of  young  Tichborne  ;  and  there 
is  no  trace  of  it  on  the  present  **  claimant.'*  He 
saw  it  when  he  was  bled.  The  lawyer  denied  that 
he  could  have  seen  the  tattooing  unless  he  could 
demonstrate  that  it  was  daylight.  The  chief-justice 
interrupted  him  by  saying  that  it  must  have  been 
light  enough  to  see  the  tattooing  since  the  surgeon 
saw  the  vein.  The  lawyer  replied  that  it  was  no 
doubt  an  imprudent  surgeon.  "  Whether  he  was 
good  or  bad  you  can't  make  us  believe  he  could 
bleed  any  one  without  seeing  the  vein."  The 
lawyer  replied,  "  It  is  your  business  to  prove  that 
it  was  light,  and  so  long  as  you  cannot  demonstrate 
that  it  was  light,  I  maintain  that  it  was  dark,"  etc. 
The  foreman  at  last  grew  impatient. 


l68  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

It  was  an  edifying  spectacle ;  from  beginning  to 
end  it  is  nothing  but  a  contest  between  barristers. 
It  was  really  characteristic.  The  whole  aim  of  the 
lawyers  is  to  drag  the  thing  out  as  long  as  possible 
till  some  juror  dies:  then  it  will  be  necessary  to 
begin  over  again  for  the  third  time.  In  English 
jurisprudence  you  may  undertake  to  do  anything, 
even  to  prove  that  a  hippopotamus  is  a  gazelle. 
All  you  need  do  is  to  organize  a  corporation  to  out- 
wit the  law.  You  may  buy  shares  here  in  judicial 
enterprises  to  set  aside  succession  to  property  no 
less  than  in  associations  for  stealing  diamonds. 

London,  January  7,  1874. 

Last  night  while  at  dinner  we  received  a  telegram 
for  my  chief,  congratulating  him  and  thanking  him 
for  his  despatch.  ...  I  was  not  mistaken  then.  He 
seemed  to  me,  however,  determined  not  to  force  his 
success.  Till  now  he  has  been  occupied  with  his 
upholsterer,  and  from  early  morning  he  has  been 
here  wandering  about  the  house,  upstairs  and  down, 
measuring,  arranging  and  ordering.  .  .  . 

I  spent  the  evening  with  Lady  Russell.  It  is 
really  touching  to  see  this  old  lady  surrounded  by 
her  sons.  She  knows  that  I  have  a  dear  mother,  and 
that  I  suffer  in  being  separated  from  her.  She 
charged  me  to  say  to  Due  de  Bisacciathat  the  Queen 
was  much  pleased  with  him,  that  he  stands  for  all 
that  she  most  admires.  That  is  an  agreeable  com- 
mission. 

London,  January  11,  1874. 

We  are  going  to  have  a  John  Russell  meeting  in 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON-.  169 

favor  of  Bismarck,  and  the  persecution  of  the  church, 
and  an  anti-Catholic  meeting. 

There  will  be  some  heads  broken,  and  it  will  be  a 
re-opening  of  the  religious  quarrels  in  this  country. 
This  Johnny  has  lived  too  long.  Is  there  not  among 
his  papers  a  certain  letter  which  commenced  the 
Schleswig-Holstein  affair? 

The  unveiling  of  a  statue  of  the  Prince  Consort 
took  place  to-day  ;  this  time  on  a  horse  in  a  gallop. 
The  climate  here  makes  statuary  impossible,  neither 
metal  nor  marble  can  stand  the  soot  and  the  rain. 
When  they  show  you  a  statue  here  you  feel  an  irre- 
sistible desire  to  send  for  a  chimney-sweep.  We 
mixed  a  little  in  the  "  mob,** — among  the  ragamuf- 
fins of  London,  who  are  without  equal  anywhere 
else.  The  "policemen**  were  stamping  among  them 
as  if  they  were  so  many  ants. 

This  morning  I  saw  the  Archbishop.^  He  pos- 
sesses the  grand  air  and  an  ascetic  figure  which  go 
well  with  an  Archbishop. 

January  18,  1874. 

Lord  Clarendon  wishes  to  invite  me  with  Borth- 
wick  to  the  Grove  ;  it  is  an  old  castle  full  of  Van 
Dycks,  and  surrounded  by  the  oldest  and  most 
celebrated  manors  of  England,  and  only  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  from  London.  I  must  give  you 
a  notion  of  how  Lord  Clarendon  spends  his  time. 
The  first  incident  of  the  morning  was  his  coming  in 
from  the  hunt  on  horseback,  a  lackey  leading  the 
horse.     He   wanted   to   change  horses  in  a  muddy 

1  Cardinal  Manning. 


170  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

stableyard  without  getting  down  into  it,  and  so  he 
leaped  to  the  other  horse.  It  moved  a  bit  and  my 
lord  fell  in  the  mud  ;  he  cleaned  himself  off  as  best 
he  could  and  remounted,  when  suddenly  he  was 
thrown  over  his  horse's  head.  He  was  taken  to  the 
house  and  did  not  gain  consciousness  till  some  time 
after  reaching  it.  As  they  have  to  nurse  him  a  bit, 
to-morrow  they  will  go  shooting ;  but  the  day  after 
they  will  be  on  horseback  again.  His  lordship  was 
late  at  dinner,  and  came  in  supported  by  two  domes- 
tics, his  legs  having  gone  back  on  him  after  another 
fall.  On  his  return  to  the  city,  however,  he  will 
become  once  more  a  serious  lord,  in  running  for  a 
membership  of  the  cabinet. 

Lady  Clarendon  is  one  of  four  countesses.  It 
seems  that  her  mother  spent  her  life  repeating : 
'^  Four  daughters,  four  countesses ;  four  countesses, 
four  daughters.'*  No  one  knows  which  phrase  was 
on  her  lips  when  she  died. 

The  senior  Russell  has  consented  to  be  ill  so  as  not 
to  preside  at  the  "  meeting"  in  favor  of  Bismarck; 
but  he  will  write.  To  make  up  for  it  the  entre- 
preneur of  the  Tichborne  case,  the  '^  Honorable  " 
Whaley  (Honorable !)  will  be  present  and  give  the 
meeting  its  proper  stamp. 

I  intended  going  to-day  to  a  '^  High  Church" 
where  they  are  teaching  the  faithful  to  make  the 
sign  of  the  cross.  Every  Sunday,  so  one  of  the 
devotees  told  me,  they  have  a  new  innovation. 
Last  Sunday  the  sexton  was  in  a  robe  and  this 
Sunday  they  are  to  learn  to  make  the  sign  of  the 
cross, 


I874-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  17 1 

London,  January  26,  1874. 

Parliament  is  dissolved, — eight  days  ago  no  one 
could  have  foretold  it.  Its  term  was  a  year  longer, 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  new  year 
opened,  led  no  one  to  suppose  that  the  Liberal  gov- 
ernment wished  to  shorten  the  session. 

The  announcement  of  the  dissolution  was  the 
signal  for  universal  disorder.  You  saw  nothing  but 
candidates  crossing  London,  leaving  wives,  children 
and  luggage  on  the  way  to  reach  their  respective 
constituencies  in  time.  Least  to  be  envied  of  all 
were  the  would-be  candidates  on  the  lookout  for  a 
possible  constituency  and  the  constituencies  on  the 
lookout  for  possible  candidates.  The  result  will  show 
which  party  is  most  hurt  by  the  confusion.  The 
secrecy  with  which  the  dissolution  had  been  pre- 
pared,^ the  suddenness  of  the  decision,  the  manner 
in  which  the  public  was  informed,  all  concur  to  give 
this  grave  measure  the  air  of  a  stroke  of  party  poli- 
tics. It  is  difficult,  nevertheless,  to  forget  that  the 
personal  intervention  of  the  Prime  Minister  shows 
again  some  tendencies  to  break  noticeably  with  Eng- 
lish parliamentary  traditions,  and  to  approach  the 
democratic  conception  of  an  appeal  to  the  people. 

In  the  Liberal  clubs,  as  well  as  among  the  Con- 
servatives, the  opinion  still  prevails  that  the  cabinet 
will  succeed,  though  serious  losses  are  looked  for 
owing  to  the  divisions  which  are  day  by  day  becom- 
ing more  manifest  in  ministerial  ranks. 

^  After  his  interview  with  the  Queen,  Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  notify 
his  colleagues  till  the  19th  of  January ;  and  on  the  following  day  the 
public  was  informed  by  his  address  to  the  electors  of  Greenwich. 


172  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1874. 

London,  February  3,   1874. 

Enticed  by  the  recollection  of  the  sensation  Sir 
Charles  Dilke  has  created  from  time  to  time  in  Par- 
liament, I  have  followed  him  during  this  electoral 
period ;  a  little,  I  must  say,  with  the  feeling  of  the 
Englishman  who  followed  Van  Amburg  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  him  devoured  some  day  by  his  lions.  I 
hasten  to  say  that  my  evil  hopes  were  disappointed. 
There  was  not  the  least  scandal,  not  a  word  that 
might  not  have  come  from  the  most  loyal  subject 
of  her  Majesty  ;  not  a  proposition  that  might  not 
have  been  found  in  an  address  by  Mr.  Gladstone. 
They  were  dissertations  upon  various  reforms,  desir- 
able and  not  desirable,  set  forth  in  language  unfail- 
ingly precise  and  easy,  a  little  too  prolix  in  my  judg- 
ment, but  never  enough  so  to  try  the  patience  of  his 
auditory. 

There  was  a  large  meeting  at  Chelsea  last  night. 
But  first  I  must  tell  you  a  bit  about  the  constitu- 
ency of  Chelsea.  The  district  numbers  twenty-four 
thousand  electors,  and  reaches  from  one  extremity 
to  the  other  of  the  West  End  of  London.  It  sends 
two  members  to  Parliament.  There  are  thirteen 
*^  polling-places,''  each  candidate  must  have  a  central 
agent  in  each  of  these  subdivisions,  which  necessi- 
tates renting  a  house  for  the  purpose,  and  personal 
employees  and  agents  of  all  degrees  from  the  chief 
down  (who  receives  not  less  than  five  or  six  thousand 
francs)  to  the  sandwich  man,  who  walks  the  streets 
all  day  with  the  names  of  the  candidates  on  his 
belly  and  back.  Naturally,  to  share  the  enormous 
expense  of  an  election  like  that  the  candidates  go 


1874]  A  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON,  173 

into  partnership.  The  Association  extends  even 
beyond  mere  questions  of  expense,  for  it  is  evident 
in  the  election  at  Chelsea  that  the  two  *^  baronets** 
are  going  shares  also  on  their  constituents.  Sir 
Charles  Dilke  is  the  leader  of  the  extreme  radicals  ; 
Sir  Henry  Hoare  persuades  over  to  the  common 
cause  the  voice  of  the  liberals,  who  feel  the  need  of 
reform  but  who  do  not  want  to  kill  the  goose  with 
the  golden  eggs. 

The  **  sandwich  men,**  independently  of  the 
announcements  posted  on  the  walls,  had  been 
announcing  all  day  the  grand  meeting  to  take  place 
in  the  general  quarters  of  the  associated  candidates 
of  the  two  ministerial  factions.  When  the  night 
came  all  the  quarter  was  lit  up.  Outside  the  hall 
the  public  that  had  been  unable  to  gain  admission, 
stationed  themselves  in  front  of  the  glass  doors  where 
they  could  see  the  faces  of  the  two  **  baronets  **  to 
whom  they  were  invited  to  give  their  votes.  Twelve 
hundred  people  had  taken  possession  of  the  hall  and 
were  waiting  for  the  candidates,  which  did  not  pre- 
vent five  hundred  more  from  squeezing  into  the  hall. 
The  crowd  poured  in  at  every  door  like  streams  of 
lava ;  they  advanced  slowly,  insensibly,  irresistibly  ; 
people  were  lifted  off  their  feet  in  the  jam,  to  the 
height  of  the  gallery.  I  can  see  still  the  impassive 
face  of  a  thick-set  cabman  who  allowed  himself  to 
drift  gently  on  at  an  elevation  above  the  seats  and 
the  spectators  who  filled  them.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  meeting  he  was  at  the  entrance  of  the  hall, 
at  the  close  of  it  he  was  in  the  middle,  held  up 
off   of  the  floor  by  the  crowd.     The  crush  was  not 


174  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

brought  about  without  some  noise,  some  blows,  some 
interruptions  of  the  meeting.  I  admired,  however, 
the  parliamentary  manners  of  the  mob,  which  found 
means  to  hear,  and  the  talent  of  the  orators,  who 
made  them  listen.  Sir  Charles  Dilke  had  the  tact 
to  bring  his  wife  along.  She  is  an  Englishwoman, 
with  a  nose  with  a  rising  inflection,  fresh  coloring, 
bright  eyes  and  a  gracious  smile.  Dilke  sat  at  the 
right  of  the  chairman.  Sir  Henry  Hoare  at  the  left. 
After  the  formal  introducton  by  the  president,  the 
first  of  the  baronets  began  speaking  and  continued 
for  more  than  an  hour  without  hesitation  or  stop- 
ping for  breath ;  there  was  not  a  period,  nor  a 
comma  in  the  entire  address.  He  hardly  gave  the 
audience  time  to  cheer:  but  he  sat  down  finally  in 
the  midst  of  cheers  and  applause,  hats  waving  and 
tossed  in  the  air,  and  pamphlets  flying  on  all  sides. 

Sir  Henry  Hoare  followed  him  ; — a  less  fluent 
orator,  but  more  animated.  He  seemed  sometimes 
to  hold 'his  audience  more  closely,  but  at  other  times 
they  grew  restless.  When  he  spoke  of  the  third 
competitor,  who,  it  seemed,  had  only  introduced  his 
candidature  to  divide  the  liberal  party,  he  made 
them  roar  like  caged  lions.  Some  isolated  protest- 
ations, in  favor  of  the  unhappy  candidate,  were 
immediately  drowned  in  the  shouting.  The  assem- 
bly seemed  really  on  the  point  of  splitting  when  Sir 
H.  Hoare  courageously  gave  his  opinion  on  foreign 
politics.  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  his  various  addresses, 
had  reduced  (unfortunately)  the  English  policy  to 
defending  only  her  Insular  interests.  Sir  H.  Hoare, 
in  his  turn  spoke  of  the  something  wanting  in  Mr. 


I874-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN'  LONDON'.  175 

Gladstone's  judgments  on  the  outside  influence  of  a 
great  nation,  and  declared  that  for  a  country,  as  for 
an  individual,  their  interests  are  inseparable  from 
their  honor.  Some  cries  of  **  Long  live  Bismarck  ** 
were  heard  from  the  back  of  the  hall,  applause  and 
grumbling  replied  to  them,  and  it  was  evident  that 
the  audience  was  divided  and  restless ;  a  good  many- 
were  silent.  The  orator  began  again,  and  I  give 
you  a  resume  of  what  he  said :  "  Yes,  gentlemen,  I 
am  for  the  liberty  of  the  Catholics,  because  I  am  for 
the  liberty  of  the  Protestants.  I  believe  the  clergy- 
men should  teach  and  speak  according  to  their  con- 
sciences, because  I  want  to  speak  according  to  mine. 
Yes,  gentlemen,  I  am  for  France,  because  she  has 
been  brutally  dismembered  ;  I  am  against  those  who 
have  wrenched  Alsace  and  Lorraine  from  her.  I 
am  against  the  man  who  wishes  to  hinder  that  great 
country  from  taking  her  place  again  among  nations; 
and  against  him  who  wishes  to  lay  down  the  law  for 
the  press  even  beyond  the  German  frontier.  I  am 
against  the  meetings  which  sympathize  with  the 
oppressors,  against  the  oppressed.  And  if  these 
declarations  shut  the  doors  of  Parliament  against 
me,  and  lose  me  your  votes,  I  shall  be  proud  not  to 
have  merited  them.**  This  courageous  and  eloquent 
speech  carried  away  the  audience,  and  the  orator 
was  recompensed  by  applause  which  followed  him 
into  the  street.^ 

1  M.  Gavard  adds,  in  his  notes,  that  Sir  Charles  Dilke  alone  was 
elected  ;  he  passed  with  the  conservative  candidate  who  took  700  or 
800  votes  from  Sir  H.  Hoare  on  account  of  his  courageous  declara- 
tion against  the  Conquests  of  Prussia.     Meanwhile  it  produced  for 


1 76  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

The  manner  of  my  introduction  into  the  large 
hall  of  the  **  vestry  ''  of  Chelsea  is  not  a  thing  to 
be  proud  of.  On  my  arrival  I  was  ushered  into  a 
private  parlor  where  the  candidates  and  the  patrons 
had  gathered  waiting  for  the  opening  hour.  When 
the  time  came,  as  a  stranger  of  distinction,  I  was 
given  the  honor  of  escorting  Lady  Charles  Dilke, 
who  was  the  only  lady  present.  An  unforeseen 
honor !  It  brought  my  heart  up  into  my  mouth, 
but  it  was  not  a  case  for  hesitation,  and  I  en- 
tered first,  with  Lady  Dilke  on  my  arm,  welcomed 
by  a  burst  of  applause  such  as  I  do  not  flatter  my- 
self I  can  ever  provoke  again  in  my  life.  The 
candidates  and  their  patrons  followed  in  proces- 
sion. The  reporters  were  anxious  to  know  who  I 
was,  wanted  my  name  to  publish  the  next  day  for  all 
England  to  read.  Happily  Sir  H.  Hoare,  perceiv- 
ing the  danger  I  was  in,  put  them  on  the  wrong  scent 
as  to  my  identity.  Thus  I  escaped  a  misadventure 
which  might  have  put  an  end  to  my  diplomatic 
career;  for,  frankly,  it  was  highly  improper  for  me 
to  be  there  on  the  platform,  in  the  midst  of  politi- 
cians of  known  hostility  to  the  crown. 

London,  P^bruary  4,  1874. 

Yesterday  we  had  Mr.  Gladstone  to  dinner.     He 
was  awaiting  the  result  of  the  election  at  Greenwich. 

him  a  compensation  of  which  he  was  not  insensible.  His  speech 
was  published  in  many  Parisian  journals,  a  fact  which  decided  a 
committee  of  the  Jockey  Club  to  present  a  very  honorable  address 
to  the  former  member  for  Chelsea,  who  is  still  one  of  the  most 
Parisian,  and  (in  polite  circles)  one  of  the  most  popular  of  English- 
pxen. 


1874-1  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  177 

He  was  magnificently  tranquil,  either  as  being  cer- 
tain of  success  or  as  affecting  the  resignation  of  a 
sage  who  is  not  unwilling  to  return  to  his  favorite 
studies.  This  is  the  eighteenth  time  he  has  been 
before  the  electors,  and  he  told  me  it  was  the  last. 
He  was  charming,  or  at  least  he  possesses  always 
the  art  of  charming  me ;  with  his  openness  of  mind 
and  his  inexhaustible  store  of  recollections.  We 
passed  in  review  about  all  the  reforms  that  "  the 
crotchet-mongers ''  ^  are  peddling  nowadays  from 
**  meeting  ''  to  "  meeting.*'  Gladstone  seems  to  feel 
a  sincere  attraction  toward  everything  that  appeals 
to  him  as  being  generous.  I  repeat  it,  he  is  a 
charmer,  though  not,  perhaps,  a  very  reassuring  one. 
During  the  evening  he  received  the  notice  of  the 
re-election  of  his  son  by  a  small  majority.  He  had 
requested  not  to  be  wakened  when  the  notice  of  his 
own  fate  arrived.  His  awakening  could  not  have 
been  very  agreeable  ;  he  had  passed  with  a  small 
majority,  second  on  the  list,  and  all  the  morning's 
news  was  bad  for  the  government. 

Conversation  continued  till  very  late.  He  con- 
verted me  a  little  to  woman's  suffrage,  of  which 
he  is  a  partisan.     So  is  his  rival,  the  conservative 

leader. 

London,  February  6,  1874. 

**  Great  victory  of  the  conservatives !  Two  more 
in  Westminster."  That  is  the  cry  on  the  streets  as 
I  write.  The  government  has  no  longer  a  majority. 
I  must  hasten  to  show  myself  and  offer  my  con- 

'  People  who  carry  to  extremes  ideas  that  are  foolish  9.nd  absurd, 
I? 


1 78  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON.  [1874. 

dolences  to  Lord  Granville.     It  is  a  case  of  neces- 
sity. 

To-morrow,  perhaps  we  shall  have  no  ministry, 
and  I  shall  find  myself  between  two  saddles.  It  is 
probable  that  the  cabinet  will  send  in  its  resignation 
here  in  five  or  six  days, — about  the  fourteenth. 
Then  we  shall  see  Lord  Derby  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs ;  Mr.  Disraeli  Prime  Minister,  Chancellor  of 

the  Exchequer,  etc. 

London,  February  14,  1874. 

The  result  of  the  election  is  known  to-day.  It 
gives  a  majority  of  350  votes  to  the  conservatives 
as  against  300.  Their  advantage  is  the  more  con- 
siderable, in  that  they  reckon  in  with  the  minority 
the  new  members  for  Ireland,  to  the  number  of 
forty  or  thereabouts,  who  represent  really  nothing 
but  an  uprising  against  the  maintenance  of  the 
union. 

The  composition  of  the  new  cabinet  is  generally 
approved.  I  am  struck  by  the  readiness  with  which 
the  defeated  party,  in  the  newspapers  and  every- 
where, accept  the  change  in  government.  The  con- 
servatives, on  the  other  hand,  recognize  such  facts  as 
have  been  accomplished.  They  seem  to  have  no 
idea  of  using  their  return  to  power  as  a  means  of 
repealing  the  bills  they  opposed  while  in  the  opposi- 
tion, and  their  adversaries  declare  that  since  the 
country  does  not  care  for  additional  reforms,  it  is 
natural  that  the  reform  ministry  should  retire  and 
give  place  to  a  government  in  accord  with  the  wishes 
of  the  nation.  The  strength  of  the  new  govern- 
ment lies  not  less  in  the  unity  existing  in  its  own 


1874.]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  179 

ranks  than  in  the  divisions  in  the  ranks  of  the  oppo- 
sition. The  breaking  up  of  the  Hberal  party  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  marked.  Gladstone  is  the 
only  one  who  will  give  any  trouble.  If  his  mind 
was  open  to  reforms  in  general  when  he  was  in 
power,  what  will  it  be  when  he  is  in  the  opposition  ? 
Being  no  longer  obliged  to  be  a  statesman,  he  will 
play  the  buffoon  to  the  height  of  his  bent. 

The  day  of  the  election  at  Chelsea,  Lady  Dilke 
drove  about  with  yellow  ribbons,  and  bows  of  the 
same  color,  on  her  horses.  It  is  the  Radical  color; 
she  did  not  know  that  some  one  had  pasted  a  con- 
servative placard  on  the  back  of  her  carriage,  saying : 

Plump  for  Gordojt, 

London,  February  16,  1874. 

I  am  writing  to  you  by  the  light,  or  rather  by  the 
frightful  glare  of  a  fire  that  threatens  to  destroy  a 
large  quarter  of  the  city  before  daylight.  The 
^*  Pantechnicon  **  which  is  the  main  store-house  for 
furniture,  carriages  and  objects  of  art,  is  burned. 
The  heavy  walls  about  the  Embassy,  which  ought  to 
protect  it  against  the  contagion  from  the  neighbor- 
ing houses,  has  saved  the  stables  from  the  fire,  if  not 
from  water.  When  I  arrived  they  were  moving 
things  out  by  the  windows ;  they  were  dragging  out 
the  carriages  of  state  and  distributing  the  horses  in 
stables  some  distance  away.  If  they  had  been  my 
horses,  or  if  the  coachman  had  listened  to  me,  he 
would  have  put  them  still  farther  away,  for  no  one 
can  tell  when  or  where  the  fire  will  stop.  We  are 
at  present  protected  by  an  immense  crater  that  lies 
between  us  and  the  flames.    There  is  still  fire  in  the 


l8o  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

bottom  of  it,  but  as  the  walls  are  still  standing,  it  is 
no  more  dangerous  than  a  great  brasier.  Unhap- 
pily the  flame  has  leaped  the  street  and  the  fire  is 
speading  on  the  other  side.  Sheets  of  flame  stretch 
up  into  the  night  and  are  beaten  down  upon  the 
neighboring  roofs  by  the  wind.  Nobody  knows 
where  the  conflagration  will  stop.  Captive  fire 
fights  against  fire  in  revolt :  you  hear  the  pump  and 
piston  everywhere.  The  struggle  goes  on  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  silence,  broken  only  by  the  tum- 
bling walls  and  the  whistles  of  command.  I  can  see 
the  firemen,  as  they  come  over  the  roofs,  turn  their 
faces  from  the  fire,  and  the  unhappy  inhabitants 
pouring  water  on  their  windows  and  extinguishing 
the  fire  wherever  it  caught.  The  flames  are  reflected 
from  all  the  windows  in  the  houses  opposite  so  that 
you  can  hardly  tell  whether  they  are  on  fire  or  not. 
The  wind  carries  along  with  the  smoke  quantities 
of  sparks  over  Wilton  Place,  near  Grosvenor  Gardens. 
All  London  is  on  the  scene :  crowds  of  women, 
oyster  and  orange  vendors,  musicians — all  round  the 
barricade  made  by  the  policemen  it  was  like  a  fair. 
The  **  mob  *'  is  dispersing  now,  but  I  stay  in  my 
observatory  alone,  watching  the  fire.  The  smoke 
keeps  me  from  seeing  whether  it  is  approaching  or 
growing  more  distant. 

London,  Saturday,  February  15,  1874. 

I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  Times,  which  seems  to 
have  been  much  better  informed  than  I,  although  I 
was  on  the  scene.  It  is  reported  that  there  have 
been  invaluable  collections  lost.     Send  your  pictures 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  t8i 

to  England  to  save  them  from  incendiaries !  There 
was  a  collection  of  Wallaces  and  some  others,  some 
one  said,  from  France.  The  loss  is  said  to  be 
seventy-five  millions.     That  was  a  bonfire  ! 

Gladstone  announces  that  he  is  going  to  return  to 
his  beloved  studies,  and  has  already  brought  out  a 
refutation  in  three  points  of  a  book  by  Strauss ;  but 
in  the  meantime  he  seems  in  no  hurry  to  retire. 

London,  February  18,  1874. 

I  am  writing  to  you  in  Lord  Granville^s  ante- 
chamber. I  came  to  pay  him  a  farewell  call.^  I 
sincerely  regret  his  fall  from  office.  I  doubt  if  I 
shall  ever  have,  with  another  minister,  the  relations  I 
have  had  with  him.  He  said  he  hoped  we  should 
see  each  other  now  more  frequently,  and  told  me  the 
story  of  an  ambassador  who  was  in  too  big  a  hurry 
to  bid  the  fallen  minister  adieu. 

London,  February  21,  1874. 

The  new  ministers  return  from  Windsor  with 
the  sacks,  seals,  keys  and  staves,  all  the  accessories 
of  the  cabinet.  Everybody  is  satisfied  with  the 
choice.  ...  It  is  their  own  fault  if  they  do  not 
stay  in  office  a  long  time. 

Let  us  hope  that  Derby  ^  will  know  better,  in  the 
present  state  of  Europe,  than  to  tread  in  the  foot- 
steps of  Lord  Palmerston.  I  shall  have  no  end  of 
trouble  making  my  way  with  all  these  new  men:  I 
will  do  what  I  can. 

1  Lord  Granville  was  leaving  the  ministry  after  the  elections. 

2  Lord  Derby  was  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  new  cabinet  of 
Mr.  Disraeli. 


iSz  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

London,  February  25,  1874. 
To  give  you  the  order  of  my  day,  I  went  to  the 
Foreign  Office  yesterday  in  uniform.  The  first  inci- 
dent was  the  German  ambassador's  arrival  in  citi- 
zen's clothes  ;  he  asked  if  there  was  time  for  him  to 
go  put  on  his  uniform,  and  seemed  astonished  when 
he  was  told  there  was,  but  he  went  away  to  dress. 
The  roll-call  began  next,  and  my  turn  came  before 
all  the  other  ministers;  this  was  a  fresh  surprise. 
Then  Lord  Derby  detained  me  for  twenty  minutes 
instead  of  five ;  surprise  the  third.  I  believe  it  was 
due  really  to  chance,  and  a  bit  perhaps  to  awkward- 
ness, or  to  forgetfulness.  Still,  I  very  much  prefer  to 
be  on  the  right  side  of  any  such  little  mistake. 
As  for  Lord  Derby,  one  cannot  say  too  much  upon 
the  awkwardness  of  his  first  appearance.  He 
snatched  up  a  pair  of  new  gloves  and  held  them  in 
his  hands  while  he  stood  in  an  **  impossible"  position 
and  greeted  us  with  a  muscular  bow.  We  sat  down 
and  talked,  and  he  was  soon  at  his  ease.  He  speaks 
French  fluently — some  few  blunders — but  really 
without  hesitation.  I  did  not  try  to  force  his  hand 
on  foreign  politics  and  he  did  not  volunteer  any- 
thing. But  I  questioned  him  on  home  politics.  Talk- 
ing confidentially  and  on  his  own  subject,  he  spoke 
willingly  and  for  a  long  time.  Too  long  for  the 
other  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  who  were 
waiting.  On  the  whole,  I  think  that  a  member  of 
the  old  cabinet  would  have  held  the  same  language. 
He  spoke  of  the  momentary  withdrawal  of  Mr. 
Gladstone,  of  his  motives,  of  the  necessity  of  change 
of  ministry  from  time  to  time,  in  order  that  public 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LON-DO^.  183 

men  may  see  the  questions  before  the  country  from 
more  than  one  side.  He  spoke  of  the  new  House, 
and  gave  me  his  opinion  on  it.  The  members,  he 
said,  are  rather  old,  very  respectable,  and  very  rich ; 
but  it  will  be  rather  dull  because  of  the  lack  of  young 
men.  I  told  him  that  his  description  made  me 
envious.  He  is  more  confident  than  I  am  over  the 
intervention  of  the  unionists.  On  leaving  him  I 
made  an  appointment  to-morrow  before  the  "  draw- 
ing-room ''  for  my  chief. 

London,  March  21,  1874. 

A  day  is  empty  indeed  in  which  one  has  nothing 
better  to  do  than  pay  visits.  When  the  Eternal 
asks  you  :  **  What  have  you  done  with  your  time  ?  ** 
it  is  no  sufficient  answer  to  reply :  **  Paid  visits  ! '' 

Mr.  Gladstone  left  the  Baroness  Rothschild*s 
when  I  arrived.  He  complained  of  the  ingratitude 
of  the  Irish,  and  he  is  not  wrong,  or  rather  he  has 
made  the  mistake  of  counting  on  people  like  that  at 
all.  He  awaits  the  judgment  of  history,  but  he  ex- 
asperates his  partisans  by  not  telling  them  what  he 
wants  to  do.  It  is  the  same  as  when  he  was  in 
power.  A  lady  who  was  there  was  guilty  of  the  in- 
discretion of  asking  if  he  would  remain  after  Easter. 
He  replied  in  one  of  his  vague  sentences,  of  which  he 
possesses  the  secret.  He  had  hardly  gone  when 
Disraeli  appeared,  as  always,  like  Banquo's  ghost.  I 
had  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him.  He  does  not 
recognize  me  in  uniform  nor  in  citizen's  clothes.  But 
he  tried  to  be  polite  when  he  heard  my  name,  and 
he  spoke  kindly  of  my  chief,  whom  I  had  presented 
to  him  yesterday.     Fancy  a  Primer  Minister  having 


l84  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON',  [1874. 

SO  much  leisure  in  France !  I  saw  Lord  Sydney, 
the  retiring  chamberlain,  once  more  (we  are  inti- 
mate friends  now),  and  Lord  Lennox  and  Beust,  all 
of  them  at  Baroness  Rothschilds*.  As  she  was  offer- 
ing me  a  cake,  she  stopped,  not  daring  to  call  it  by 
its  name ;  it  was  a  '*  Bismarck."  Thereupon  there 
was  some  joking  with  Beust  to  the  effect  that  it 
would  explode.  ''  Eat  it,  man.**  ''  But  no — Fm  not 
burning  for  revenge.**  *^  Don*t  be  afraid  of  being  the 
first  to  begin  ;  he  has  done  it  already.  Look  at  his 
cheek — he*s  lost  his  color,**  etc.  As  you  may  im- 
agine, it  was  not  I  that  was  poking  fun  at  the 
"  Bismarck  pudding.** 

London,  March  26,  1874. 

I  was  at  dinner  yesterday  with  the  Marquis  of 
Salisbury .1  The  house  is  a  vast  mansion  half- 
finished  ;  you  reach  the  private  apartments  (I 
suppose  you  call  them  private)  through  long  halls. 
The  dinner  at  least  was  private.  Lord  Salisbury 
has  a  kindly  face,  pleasant  look,  and  generally 
unassuming  air ;  but  his  large  figure  and  his  head 
bowed  down  by  the  weight  of  his  brain  reminded 
me  of  poorVerdet.  This  is  the  spirited  and  ironic 
orator !  My  first  impression  of  him  is  pleasing. 
We  had  a  most  interesting  conversation  about  Eng- 
lish institutions.  Singularly  enough  for  a  man  in 
his  position  and  with  his  talents  he  gives  his  inter- 
locutor a  chance  to  be  an  interlocutor. 

^  R.  A.  Talbot  Gascoigne  Cecil,  at  first  Viscount  of  Cranbome, 
born  in  1830,  married,  in  1850,  the  oldest  daughter  of  Sir  Anderson. 
He  was  third  Marquis  of  Salisbury  in  1868.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  new  cabinet. 


1874]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON.  185 

I  profited  by  the  opportunity  to  draw  a  com- 
parison between  England,  with  her  social  divisions 
and  hierarchies,  and  a  ship  with  air-tight  compart- 
ments. Then  we  spoke  of  India,  and  he  explained 
very  clearly  about  the  exportation  of  grain  during 
the  famine.  The  marchioness  is  not  young,  but  she 
seems  intelligent,  very  agreeable,  very  tory,  and  not 
too  certain  about  the  future,  in  spite  of  the  Con- 
servatives* five-years'  lease  of  power. 

I  talked  a  long  time  with  Lord  Carnarvon  ^  about 
**  Trades-Unions.*'  I  attacked  them  with  some 
spirit,  and  he  made  little  effort  to  defend  them.  We 
talked  too,  with  Lord  Eustache  Cecil  ^  (Secretary  of 
War)  about  the  English  army.  He  claims  that  they 
have  at  their  disposition  sixty  thousand  fighting- 
men  ;  I  doubt  if  there  are  more  than  thirty 
thousand  ;  there  were  only  a  thousand  whites  at 
most  at  Coomassie,  etc.  The  two  daughters  of  the 
house  were  there  ;  they  seem  entirely  dominated  by 
their  intelligence.  I  can  understand  why  it  is  people 
say  that  this  family  is  all  men. 

London,  March  29,  1874. 

Lord  Cardwell  ^  was  at  the  Duke  of  Bedford's 
yesterday.  He  took  precedence  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
his  superior  in  office.  It  was  a  bit  formal.  Fred- 
erick Peel,*  a  Liberal  "  whip,"  who  was  my  neigh- 
bor, explained  the  organization  of  his  staff — a  whole 

1  Fourth  Earl  Carnarvon,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies, 

2  Son  of  the  second  Marquis  of  Salisbury. 

8  Minister  of  War  until  1874,  then  created  Viscount  Cardwell. 
*  The  Honorable  Frederick  Peel,  now  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons. 


l86  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

corps  of  subordinates  ready  to  jump  into  "  hansoms  '* 
at  the  first  signal.  Every  member  of  Parliament  is 
obliged  to  tell,  on  leaving  his  home,  where  he  may  be 
found.  If  a  discussion  arises  or  a  division  occurs, 
that  was  not  foreseen,  the  bells  of  Parliament  and 
telegrams  to  the  clubs  are  not  enough ;  somebody 
must  go  in  search  of  the  missing  members  and  bring 
them  back.  The  discipline  is  severe  !  After  dinner 
I  approached  Gladstone.  He  leaves  to-morrow  for 
three  months'  vacation,  and  day  after  to-morrow  he 
will  take  up  his  pen^again.  He  has  a  work  ready  on 
Homer,  the  tale  of  Troy,  etc.,  which  is  probably 
about  the  same  sort  of  thing  as  his  other  writings. 
He  rents  his  London  house.  This  retirement  is  not 
without  its  dignity.  What  a  pity  I  am  not  a  liter- 
ary hack  !  a  preparer  of  memoirs  !  These  conversa- 
tions with  historical  personages  of  England  would 
be  invaluable.  He  told  me  that  this  session  would 
pass  without  discussion,  and  that  things  would  move 
on  unchanged  so  long  as  England  remains  satisfied 
with  the  present  state  of  affairs.  Somebody  had 
been  speaking  previously  about  the  movement  of 
the  workingmen  in  the  country  districts.  The  Duke 
of  Bedford  seemed  to  me  not  to  relish  the  vague  re- 
marks of  his  former  leader,  who  is  not  a  landowner, 
and  aspires  to  become  once  more  the  "  people's 
William.'*  What  struck  me  most  in  the  fallen  states- 
man was  how  sensitive  he  seems  to  be  to  what  he 
calls  the  popular  gratitude.  It  seems  to  me,  if  I  had 
brought  about  as  many  reforms  as  Gladstone  has, 
gratitude  on  the  part  of  the  public  is  the  last  thing 
I  should  think  of. 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  187 

London,  March  31,  1874. 

I  left  at  ten  o'clock  for  Windsor.  The  Queen 
reviewed  the  troops  returning  from  the  Ashantee 
war.  At  one  o'clock  we  entered  on  the  Royal  lawn, 
with  our  post  h  la  Daumont  and  the  classic  gray 
hats  of  the  postilions.  There  were  twelve  hundred 
men  in  the  army.  There  was  no  need  for  any  more 
to  go  to  burn  a  bamboo  village  on  the  equator.  It 
is  very  meritorious  to  have  calculated  beforehand 
precisely  the  number  of  Englishmen  necessary,  to 
have  provisioned  them,  to  have  got  them  there,  and 
brought  them  back  again  on  the  day  and  hour  set, 
after  the  fever  and  before  the  rains.  The  commissary 
which  came  last  deserves  perhaps  the  greatest  share 
of  the  applause.  The  Lords  and  Commons  were 
waiting  in  their  galleries ;  we  on  top  of  our  carriages, 
and  the  populace  where  it  could.  At  last  the  Queen 
appeared  with  her  roan  horses,  her  magnificent  Horse- 
guards  and  Brown.  All  quite  in  the  traditional  style, 
except  perhaps  for  the  Highlander  on  the  box. 

The  troops  looked  as  if  they  had  just  stepped  out 
of  their  *•'  barracks '' ;  there  wasn't  an  Ashantee  to 
be  seen  in  their  train — not  even  a  little  one.  There 
has  been  no  stinginess  about  the  recognition 
accorded  to  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley.  He  has  been 
made  a  Baronet,  a  General  and  Quartermaster  under 
the  orders  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  has  an  income 
of  one  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  sterling,  has 
received  the  order  of  St.  Michael,  K.C.B.,  C.B.,  a  vote 
of  gratitude  from  both  Houses  in  speeches  in  which 
Gladstone  and  Disraeli  vied  with  each  other.  Why 
do  not  all  these  colonels  with  which  "  Greater  Britain" 


1 88  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1S74. 

swarms  engage  (on  their  own  responsibility  if  need 
be)  in  like  and  equally  profitable  expeditions.  It  all 
passed  off  with  measured  slowness.  Furious  cheer- 
ings  went  up  when  either  the  Queen  or  the  troops 
came  in  sight  of  the  public  or  of  the  Houses  of  Par- 
liament. The  clown^s  part  in  the  show  was  taken 
by  the  nanny-goat  given  by  the  Queen  to  a  regiment 
of  which  it  constitutes  the  "  Mascot/*  Its  prede- 
cessor in  office  had  died  during  the  campaign,  and 
the  new  incumbent  had  not  yet  become  famiHar  with 
military  discipline,  and  in  default  of  training  had  to 
be  carried. 

London,  April  11,  1874. 

The  Due  de  Bisaccia  begs  me  to  preside  at  the 
banquet.^  So  be  it !  I  have  only  a  dozen  days  to 
prepare  my  extempore  speeches,  and  to  consider  who 
will  reply  to  them.  I  have  to  find  an  unhackneyed 
witticism  for  each  of  my  toasts :  the  Queen,  the 
"Royal  Family,'*  the  Army,  the  Patrons  of  the  Hos- 
pital, and  Thanks.  I  must  not  forget  to  add  the 
Marshal — which  is  rather  a  new  departure,  but  at 
present  our  rallying-point.  In  effect  it  is  a  good 
deal  like  the  trip  from  China,  one  is  delighted  when 
it  is  over  with  ! 

Lord  Derby  has  much  more  sprightliness  and  in- 
telligence in  conversation  than  I  supposed.  As  I  was 
pleading  the  cause  of  our  dramatic  authors,  he  said  : 
**  Why,  if  you  should  deprive  our  English  play- 
wrights of  French  plays  what  would  become  of 
them  !  **  It  was  rather  nice  and  encouraging. 

1  Banquet  of  French  Charitable  Societies. 


I874-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  189 

London,  April  17,  1874. 

I  saw  Livingstone  buried  at  Westminster.  It  was 
a  moving  spectacle  when  you  remembered  the 
corpse  had  been  brought  out  of  Central  Africa  by 
the  natives  that  had  served  under  him.  The  em- 
balming must  have  been  of  the  crudest.  Fortu- 
nately (as  it  turned  out),  he  had  once,  in  a  fight 
with  a  lion,  had  his  arm  put  out  of  joint  at  the 
shoulder,  and  had  been  obliged  to  reset  it  himself  ; 
he  did  it  so  imperfectly  it  always  showed,  and  it  was 
by  this  deformity  that  he  was  recognized.  At  the 
funeral  there  was  a  negro-boy  who  had  interred  the 
entrails  of  the  great  traveller  under  a  tree,  and 
marked  the  tree  with  an  inscription,  and  said  prayers 
at  the  grave  from  the  English  liturgy.  The  remains 
will  repose  under  the  pavement  of  Westminster,  in 
front  of  the  Pitt  monument. 

Spring  burst  forth  this  morning ;  the  leaves  hast- 
ening to  make  up  for  lost  time.  It  would  be 
charming  to  sit  in  the  woods  and  listen  to  the 
golden  oriole  and  the  other  songsters  of  the  season. 
I  care  very  little  for  the  city  except  in  bad  weather. 

London,  April  23,  1874. 

Yesterday  evening  there  was  a  large  party  at  the 
*^  Foreign  Office.**  The  effect  on  the  staircase  was 
fine.  It  is  to  our  ambassadress  and  her  diamonds 
that  our  success  is  due.  I  have,  by  the  way,  an- 
nounced our  coming  ball.  We  have  already  the 
approval  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Lady  Derby  was 
there,  she  is  simple  and  charming,  and  Lady 
Granville   who   is   beautiful   always,  but   conversa- 


igo  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDO^T.  [1S74. 

tion  with  her  never  goes  beyond  a  shake  of  the 
hand. 

I  took  Lady  Waldegrave's  little  Jewess  a  prom- 
enade. Then  I  discovered  I  had  forgotten  all  my 
decorations.  Unpardonable !  But  what  can  you 
expect  of  an  orator  !  ^  you  must  not  forget  that  I 
rehearse  my  speeches  incessantly,  and  that  the 
people — at  home — must  take  me  for  a  madman  or  a 
ventriloquist. 

I  am  a  little  embarrassed  about  the  dinner  on 
Sunday  at  Dilkes,  especially  if  I  do  not  find  Roche- 
fort  there  ! 

London,  April  28,  1874. 

It  was  a  complete  success !  ^  There  were  one 
hundred  and  eighty  guests  at  table  and  every- 
body was  satisfied.  I  believe  the  receipts  are  very 
satisfactory.  No  one  was  absent.  It  was  near 
nine  o'clock  when  the  speech-making  began.  The 
guests  were  seated  at  table  at  seven  o'clock.  I  had 
all  my  speeches  written  out  and  in  my  pocket,  but 
I  did  not  disturb  them  ;  the  sight  of  them  would 
have  worried  and  annoyed  me.  After  the  toast- 
master  had  had  the  glasses  filled  and  announced  in 
a  resounding  voice  (like  the  tuba  mirum)  that  the 
*'  chairman  "  would  speak,  I  had  to  stand  up  amidst 
"cheers,*'  and  turned  upon  the  assembly  an  eye 
much  calmer  than  myself.  I  said  a  fev/  words  of 
apology  for  the  absence  of  the  Duke,  then  toasted 
the  Queen  and  the  Princes.     I  got  through  with 

1  Allusion  to  the  speeches  that  M.  Gavard  expected  to  deliver  at 
the  banquet  of  the  French  charitable  societies. 

2  Still  excited  over  the  banquet. 


i874l  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON.  191 

these  commonplaces  calmly  enough,  and  the  public 
were  agreeably  surprised.  The  "  cheers  **  were  a 
matter  of  course  ;  no  matter  what  I  had  said  the}^ 
would  have  been  forthcoming.  After  the  three 
hurrahs,  a  new  proclamation  of  the  toast-master  and 
up  I  was  again  ;  "  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen.'*  This 
time  it  was  for  France  and  the  Marshal.  This  was 
my  own  particular  toast,  the  one  I  had  inserted  on 
my  own  responsibility,  and  it  was  a  success.  It  took 
the  room  by  storm.  I  proposed  it  with  warmth.  I 
had  calculated  my  words  well.  From  all  sides  my 
friends  made  me  cabalistic  signs  to  say  that  it  was 
a  success.  *^  To  France  !  To  the  Marshal-President 
of  the  Republic  !  To  the  soldier  who  has  deserved 
well  of  his  country  on  every  field  of  battle !  To  the 
good  man  to  whom  is  due  the  rare  honor  (in  the 
midst  of  parties  which  unhappily  divide  us)  of  re- 
uniting all  of  us  in  a  common  sentiment  of  respect, 
of  confidence,  and  of  gratitude — to  Marshal  Mac- 
Mahon !  *'  Thereupon  the  orchestra  played  the 
"  Daughter  of  the  Regiment.*'  Behold  me  on  my 
feet  again  with  another  toast,  to  the  "•  Army  and 
Navy  !  "  First  I  said  a  few  words  of  Anson,  the 
valiant  colonel  who  said  such  cordial  words  to  us 
last  year,  but  who  is  in  Provence  for  the  good  of  his 
health  (the  compliment  was  sent  to  him  by  telegram 
at  once);  then  a  compliment  and  a  joke  on  Lord 
Eliot  that  we  had  cooked  up  together  the  year 
before ;  then  a  compHment  to  General  Ady  who 
was  present.  Finally  I  touched  on  the  Coomassie 
expedition.  Great  applause,  and  while  the  orchestra 
played,  my  friends  hurried  up  to  tell  me  what  a 


192  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

success  it  had  all  been.  They  seemed  really  quite 
satisfied.  General  Ady  replied  in  a  serious  strain, 
speaking  about  the  Crimea.  I  had  carefully  avoided 
mentioning  it.  It  was  one  of  the  difficulties  of  my 
position,  as  I  could  say  nothing  that  might  displease 
Russia.  Then  Veron  ^  spoke  for  the  Navy  and 
English  fleet  which  never  fights  but  in  the  interest 
of  justice  and  civilization.     Three  cheers  ! 

This  brought  me  to  my  most  difficult  toast,  the 
''  evening  toast.'*  In  the  first  place  it  was  the  long- 
est ;  and  then,  I  had  determined  to  break  in  it  with 
the  traditional  thing  and  to  give  some  advice.  I 
began  well :  I  spoke  of  France,  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  of  the  teachings  of  the  Mother  Superior  :  I 
made  an  allusion  to  the  Due  de  Broglie,  passed 
our  works  of  charity  in  review,  closed  with  some 
words  of  counsel  on  the  subject  of  the  maintenance 
of  a  good  understanding  between  all  those  who 
were  engaged  in  these  Christian  Endeavors.  At 
one  place  in  the  toast  I  was  obliged  to  stop  ;  as  I 
was  passing  from  one  work  of  charity  to  another  I 
felt  that  I  had  forgotten  something,  and  finding  that 
I  was  becoming  confused,  instead  of  beating  about 
the  bush  I  stood  silent  until  I  had  regained  my  self- 
possession.  As  a  last  word :  *'  I  ought  to  have 
stopped  long  ago,  but  if  I  should  make  an  end  with- 
out having  referred  to  the  Princes  and  Princesses  of 
the  House  of  Orleans,  your  very  walls  would  accuse 
me  of  ingratitude.'*  This  peroration  provoked  an 
outburst  of  satisfaction. 

1  Military  attache  of  the  Embassy,  at  present  admiral  and 
senator. 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  193 

Ouf !  I  was  done.  And  behold,  Wolowski  was  on 
his  feet,  proposing  my  health,  pouring  out  a  flood 
of  compliments,  speaking  of  the  ancient  friendship 
between  us,  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  of  the  budget. 
Happily  he  had  a  horrible  cold  ;  if  it  had  not  been 
for  that  we  should  have  been  there  yet.  When  he 
sat  down  there  was  a  fresh  surprise,  "  the  toast- 
master  '*  announced  that  /  would  reply  to  him.  And 
/  had  thought  I  was  done  and  hadn't  another  line 
of  MS.  in  my  pocket.  I  replied  that  it  was  very 
evident  that  M.  Wolowski  had  come  there  this  even- 
ing in  a  charitable  mood,  and  had  made  me  the 
beneficiary  of  it.  Then  I  gave  my  thanks  to  the 
assembly.  I  couldn't,  you  know,  take  up  his  refer- 
ence to  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  Then  there  was  also 
a  toast  with  compliments  of  Eliot  and  two  or  three 
more. 

At  eleven  o^clock  I  sprang  into  my  brougham  to 
go  to  Lord  Salisbury's.  The  noise  of  my  success 
had  preceded  me ;  the  Due  de  Bisaccia  seemed 
sincerely  pleased  with  me. — The  place  was  full  of 
people  and  of  lights. — Lady  Derby  told  me  of  the 
conflict  at  dinner  between  the  Countess  Marie 
Munster  and  the  Baroness  Rothschild.  It  was 
the  old  question  of  precedence  between  the 
daughters  of  the  ambassador  and  the  wife  of  the 
minister. 

Salisbury  had  been  so  imprudent  as  to  offer  his 
arm  to  the  Countess  Munster.  Nothing  but  the 
question  of  the  dukes  and  the  l^gitimds  has  ever 
raised  such  a  storm.  But  it  lacked  a  Saint  Simon 
to  make  it  truly  interesting. 
13 


194  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

I  met  one  of  my  young  friends,  Lady  Ella 
Russell ;  she  is  the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford.  Her  father  is  a  Bedford,  she  is  a  Russell,  and 
her  brother  a  Tavistock.  There,  can  you  solve 
that! 

How  Wolowski  does  know  his  England!  He  only 
came  to  spend  five  or  six  days  here,  and  he  brought 
a  whole  array  of  decorations  to  wear. 

London,  April  29,  1874. 

Dined  yesterday  at  Dilke's.  Happily,  Sir  L. 
Malet  was  there,  who  is  certainly  one  of  my  friends. 
When  at  the  close  of  the  dinner  some  one  joked 
about  the  Bible,  Lady  Dilke  gave  the  signal  to 
leave  the  table.  Curious  people  !  Lady  Dilke  calls 
herself  a  tory,  she  is  older  than  her  husband,  but 
is  agreeable,  and  intensely  vivacious.  She  is  a  great 
friend  of  Gambetta's,  who  sends  her  bouquets  of 
flowers.  It  seems  that  he  is  very  generous ;  no 
doubt  it  is  since  the  war.  She  is  also  an  admirer 
of  Schoelcher  and  in  everything  a  tory.  She  is  a 
friend  of  Mme.  Weldon,  but  never  wants  to  see  her 
again,  because  Mme.  Weldon  formed  the  habit  of 
borrowing  money  of  her.  There  was  also  present  a 
Theatre-manager,  a  semi-communist,  who  said  un- 
pleasant things  about  the  French  embassy.  I  was 
obliged  to  mention  my  title  in  order  to  call  him 
to  order.  Dilke  himself,  it  seems,  is  a  man  of  great 
acquirements  and  talent.  It  is  said  that  in  ten 
years  (he  is  only  thirty  now)  he  will  be  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  liberal  party. 

Nothing  is  impossible  in  this  absurd  country. 


1874]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON.  195 

London,  April  30,  1874. 

Decazes  congratulates  the  Due  de  Bisaccia  on  the 
ball  he  is  to  give,  and  he  is  right.  The  situation 
has  changed  here  ;  everybody  seeks  for  an  invitation, 
and  in  spite  of  yourself,  you  can't  help  believing  in 
the  existence  of  a  country  when  you  are  begging 
favors  of  its  official  representative.  All  the  princes 
are  coming  to  the  ball,  so  there  will  be  two  suppers 
set  in  the  upper  apartments  ;  so  as  to  give  the  august 
personages  plenty  of  room  and  keep  them  from 
eating  one  another. 

One   thing   that  I    have    remarked    in    knocking 

about  in  society  here,  is   the  indecency  (the  word 

is  not  too  strong    when  you  are    speaking  of   the 

younger  generation),  in  the  relations  between  men 

and  women.     Society  is  upside  down.     As  the  men 

have  everything,  fortune  and  titles,  and  the  women 

nothing  ;  it  is  the  women  that  have  to  run  after  the 

men.     The    men    take   things   easy  and   treat    the 

women  as  inferiors. 

London,  May  7,  1874. 

We  are  absorbed  in  the  preparations  for  our  fete. 
The  most  serious  thing  is  the  report  that  the 
Duchess  of  Cambridge  is  dying.  If  so,  good-bye  to 
the  princes.  Morier,  the  British  ambassador  to 
Munich,  says  that  if  she  dies  she  will  show  her 
lack  of  savoir  vivre.  The  witticism  is  possibly  an  old 
one.  The  invitations  are  all  the  rage.  Meanwhile 
the  invitations  crowd  on  us  too,  but  I  fancy  they 
will  cease  when  the  senders  give  up  hope  of  getting 
one  of  ours.  Some  people  ask  me  if  I  cannot  get 
them  invitations,  others  thank  me  for  things  I  have 


196  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

not   done.     Last    evening    those    who    have   been 

invited  were  twitting  those  who  have  not.     To  give 

a   ball   is    the   height    of   diplomacy ;    the    Duke's 

horses  and  his  invitations  do  more  than  he  and  I 

together. 

London,  May  9,  1874. 

The  place  was  a  fairy-land  of  princes,  of  liveries, 
flowers,  diamonds,  emeralds,  pearls,  duchesses,  lights 
and  music  as  in  the  *  thousand  and  one  nights.*  It  was 
a  fairy -land,  too,  for  the  organs  of  digestion !  When 
I  saw  five  hundred  persons  in  solid  column  assault 
the  supper,  (which  passed  insensibly  into  a  break- 
fast— it  lasted  till  six  o*clock  in  the  morning),  I 
seemed  to  see  droves  of  cattle  and  hogs  coming  up 
a  back  staircase  to  precipitate  themselves  into  these 
English  stomachs  !  I  escaped  from  the  party  at 
four  o'clock.  Birds  were  singing  and  cocks  crowing, 
I  heard  the  last  strains  of  the  orchestra  as  I  left. 
The  morning  air  reminded  me  of  the  country. 

It  was  a  complete  success.  The  embassy  was 
buried  in  flowers.  The  panniers  hung  on  the  walls 
(an  idea  of  the  Duke's)  were  beautiful.  The  idea 
will  be  adopted  by  every  house  in  London  that  can 
stand  the  expense.  The  princes  began  to  arrive  at 
eleven  o'clock,  headed  by  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh. 
Every  one  rushed  to  the  foot  of  the  staircase  to 

receive  him.     My  admiration  for  my  friend  X 

made  me  forget  all  about  princes.  What  a  rare 
combination  of  vivacity  and  ease  she  has  !  She  is 
to  the  manner  born,  is  as  much  at  home  in  society 
as  a  fish  in  water.  The  same  ceremony  was  gone 
through  for  each  of  the  princes,  including  the  Due 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  197 

de  Nemours.  He  told  me  he  was  charmed  with  the 
dinner  ^  and  with  the  fete.  He  stayed  till  half-past 
three,  dancing  with  the  "  Royalties/*  The  Duchess 
of  Edinburgh  is  truly  beautiful  and  striking^  as  they 
say  in  this  country.  She  was  dressed  in  red  and  the 
Duchesse  de  Bisaccia  in  white  ;  they  were,  I  fancy, 
the  most  beautiful  women  there.  The  guests  were 
numerous,  but  we  could  not  have  done  with  fewer ; 
we  needed,  in  especial,  all  the  duchesses  available 
with  their  diamonds.  The  Buccleugh  collar  drew 
my  attention  to  one  dear  old  lady  whom  I  had  for- 
gotten. What  did  I  do  in  the  midst  of  all  these 
beauties  and  royalties  ?  I  made  myself  as  useful  as 
possible.  In  the  first  place,  I  looked  out  for  Lady 
Derby  ;  then  I  promenaded  with  her  daughter,  the 
Countess  of  Galloway,  a  very  agreeable  person,  who 
must  have  perceived  that  I  found  her  charming. 
Then  with  the  Duchess  of  Bedford  and  her  daughters, 
on  whom  I  kept  an  eye  while  the  mother  was  dining. 
At  one  o*clock  a  supper,  of  forty-eight  covers,  was 
served  on  the  upper  floor.  There  was  great  difficulty 
in  getting  the  right  people  into  the  right  places,  and 
in  keeping  the  wrong  people  out.  There  was  a  little 
gnashing  of  teeth, — but  every  one  was  at  last  served. 
The  beautiful  Castalia,^  simple  and  good-natured  as 
always,  was  laughing  at  the  mistakes  in  my  suc- 
cessive invitations  and  at  the  satisfaction  my  errors 
had  given  her  husband.  We  had  had  a  correspond- 
ence that  had  given  Granville  an  opportunity  to 
indite    some  witty  letters  in  reply.     Lord  Vernon 

1  He  had  dined  two  days  before  at  the  Embassy. 
*  Lady  Granville. 


igS  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1874. 

and  her  daughter,  my  friend  Wood,^  and  Lady  Agnes, 
and  Mrs.  Holford  and  Evehne  were  there  ;  I  am  much 
interested  in  this  young  girl, — she  is  so  frank  and 
naively  happy.  Lady  Rosamond  Churchill  was  very 
gracious  and  happy  in  the  pleasure  she  gave  ;  she  is 
more  amiable  than  her  mother  the  Duchess  of  Marl- 
borough. I  found  Lady  Barington  again,  she  is  dis- 
tinguished-looking and  must  have  been  beautiful 
once.  Then  there  were  the  beauties.  Miss  Gerard 
and  Mme.  Murietta  ;  a  fire  the  night  before  had 
burned  all  the  latter*s  clothes,  except  the  dress  she 
wore,  which  did  not  interfere  in  the  least  with  her 
dancing  gayly  till  the  rising  of  the  lark.  And  just 
now  IVe  seen  all  these  beautiful  women  repairing 
the  fatigues  of  the  night  with  a  little  gallop  in 
Rotten-Row. 

London,  May  14,  1874. 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  only  arri\red  last  night. 
The  delay  was  no  doubt  voluntary.  It  is  said  that 
he  does  not  like  to  go  where  a  crowd  awaits  him. 
About  to-morrow  no  one  knows  yet  whether  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  diplomatic  corps  are  included 
among  those  to  be  received  by  the  Czar,  nor  whether 
we  shall  have  to  wear  ^'  breeches  **  {culottes)  to  the 
ball  at  Stafford  House  ?  These  are  the  matters  with 
which  we  are  preoccupied.  It  is  really  a  bit  absurd 
for  a  representative  of  France  abroad  to  be  obliged  to 
give  such  attention  to  his  culottes  at  a  time  when  he 
may  at  any  moment  find  himself  representing  a  gov- 
ernment sanS'Culottes  ! 

1  Lord  Halifax, 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  199 

London,  May  16,  1874. 

This  has  been  a  day  to  remember.  We  started 
at  noon  for  Buckingham  Palace. 

The  diplomatic  corps  lined  up,  dressed  to  the  right, 
each  embassy  headed  by  its  chief. 

After  some  waiting,  the  Emperor  ^  entered  very 
stiffly,  followed  by  Brunnow,  who  was  left  to  find 
his  way  as  best  he  could.  If  he  hadn't  been  already 
as  old  as  could  be,  he  would  have  aged  ten  years 
since  yesterday.  The  Czar's  countenance  is  hand- 
some. He  was  courteous  to  Musurus,  showed 
marked  coldness  to  Count  de  Beust,  was  friendly 
with  Count  Munster,  (shook  hands  with  him),  and 
more  than  friendly  with  the  German  Embassy,  rec- 
ognizing each  of  the  secretaries.  To  our  ambas- 
sador he  showed  little  more  than  simple  good-will, 
explaining  in  a  low  tone  the  necessity  of  a  visit  on 
his  part  to  Chiselhurst  and  dropping  a  few  gracious 
words  about  the  Marshal.  As  he  was  leaving  he 
added,  in  a  voice  this  time  that  every  one  could 
hear :  "  In  especial  say  to  him  that  /  am  in  favor 
of  law  and  order."  It  was  something  too  strongly 
accented,  and  though  the  Duke  is  as  much  (if  not 
more)  in  favor  of  law  and  order  as  his  interlocutor, 
he  was  a  bit  offended.  The  incident  will  of  course 
find  its  way  to  the  Continent.  I  noticed  after  this 
interview  a  severity  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor  toward 
poor  Brunnow.  Brunnow  had  of  course  allowed 
the  Emperor,  in  his  trip  through  the  diplomatic 
corps,  to  pay  more  attention  than  was  quite  befit- 

1  Alexander  II, 


200  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1874. 

ting  to  the  Nicaraguan  representative  whose  repu- 
tation leaves  much  to  be  desired ;  and  the  Emperor 
in  consequence  overlooks  his  ambassador  and 
appeals  for  information  to  Count  Schouvaloff,  who 
follows  him  about. 


Eittacta  trom  tbe  Botes* 

My  mother  and  sister  having  joined  me,  I  have 
no  record  (in  the  way  of  letters,)  of  the  last  fes- 
tivities during  my  stay  at  London  :  notably  a 
ball  improvised  for  Ascot,  at  the  place  and  in  the 
stead  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  day  before, 
flowers,  illuminations,  musicians,  service,  supper,  and 
even  a  flooring  for  the  ball-room  were  sent  down 
by  post.  An  affair  that  was  at  the  time  not  less 
talked  about  was  a  certain  reception  given  to  the 
volunteers  on  their  return  from  Havre,  at  which 
the  ambassador  consented  to  distribute  medals  in 
the  midst  of  the  popping  of  champagne  corks. 
The  *^  volunteers  ''  came  full-armed  and  brought 
their  wives;  and  from  that  time  on  the  Duke  could 
not  leave  the  embassy  without  a  crowd  about  his 
carriage  to  see  him  get  in.  .  .  .  Generous,  loyal, 
chivalrous,  more  than  chivalrous,  the  Due  de  Bisac- 
cia,  much  to  my  regret,  wished  to  go  to  Paris  with 
the  Duchesse  to  the  Grand-Prix.  He  left  as  an 
ambassador  and  came  back  minus  that  dignity. 

The  Comte  de  Jarnac  is  to  succeed  Due  de  Bi- 
saccia.  Under  the  Monarchy  of  July,  as  First  Sec- 
retary and  Charge  d' Affaires,  he  had  already  played 
an  important  diplomatic  role.     His  nomination  rele- 


lg74j  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  201 

gated  me  to  the  position  of  a  fifth  wheel.  I  knew 
all  the  dangers  and  inconveniences  of  this  situation. 
I  did  not,  however,  hesitate  to  recommend  the 
appointment  of  Comte  de  Jarnac  ;  I  had  taken  special 
care  to  write  and  to  speak  to  this  effect  to  the  min- 
istry every  time  that  the  succession  had  been  open 
since  my  arrival  in  England.  It  was,  at  least  for  the 
good  of  the  public,  the  happiest  choice  that  could 
have  been  made.  The  Comte  de  Jarnac  was  really 
a  born  diplomat ;  he  was  devoted,  body  and  soul,  his 
whole  life  through,  to  his  career.  He  married,  he 
assumed  the  management  of  a  considerable  property 
in  Ireland,  he  was  not  without  success  in  literature. 
But  from  first  to  last  he  was  a  diplomatist  and  a 
diplomatist  only. 

I  counted  at  first  on  easing  the  difficulties  of  my 
position  by  frequent  absences.  I  took  my  mother 
and  sister  back  to    France   the  3d    of   September, 

1874,  and  returned  to  London  the  15th  of  November. 
I  went  to  Paris  again  for  the  month  of  February, 

1875.  So  that  during  the  Comte  de  Jarnac's  admin- 
istration I  passed  at  most  three  months  in   London. 

If  this  period  was  not  entirely  unobscured  by 
clouds,  my  loyalty  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  a  great  kindliness  on  the  part  of  my  chief,  and 
also  his  high  intelligence,  dissipated  them  as  soon 
as  they  were  formed. 

M.  de  Jarnac  showed  a  bit  of  sensitiveness  and 
restlessness  in  his  official  relations.  I  saw  there  was 
a  tension  coming  in  his  relations  with  Lord  Derby, 
and  that  his  fancy  was  creating  one  for  him  in  his 
relations  with  the  French  minister.     How  uneasy  I 


202  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

have  seen  him  on  account  of  his  having,  in  his 
private  correspondence,  presumed  to  mark  a  shade 
of  difference  between  his  own  notions  and  those  of 
Due  Decazes,  on  the  nature  of  the  relations  to  be 
maintained  with  Mr.  DisraeH's  cabinet !  He  had 
undertaken  to  renew  the  former  close  alliance.  In 
his  proceedings,  in  his  illusions,  there  was  a  bit  too 
much  of  the  traditions  of  a  former  time  ;  and  there 
was  something  old-fashioned  in  the  turns  of  his  offi- 
cial despatches,  in  the  importance  he  attached  to 
small  things,  but  it  must  be  said  that  he  looked 
upon  the  official  despatch  as  a  necessary  evil.  He 
reproached  me  amicably,  for  putting  so  much  into 
mine ;  he  felt  that  one  could  be  certain  that  a 
despatch  is  the  surest  medium  for  carrying  danger- 
ous information  to  the  ears  that  have  no  right  to 
hear  it.  Mistrustful,  accordingly,  of  official  corre- 
spondence he  puts  nothing  in  his  own  despatches 
but  odds-and-ends  or  general  reflections,  that  when 
one  reads  them  afterwards  are  scarcely  intelligible. 
He  reserved  everything  for  his  private  correspond- 
ence, and  then  indeed,  he  wrote  it  down  with  an  un- 
paralleled fulness  and  exactitude.  The  courage  to 
contradict  a  minister  he  did  not  lack ;  in  spite  of 
his  soft  phrases,  or  rather  by  virtue  of  them,  M. 
Jarnac  was  quite  capable,  when  he  felt  it  was  his 
duty  to  do  so,  of  making  a  resistance  to  the  very 
Princes  to  whose  cause  he  had  devoted  his  life. 

No  one  could  be  more  circumspect  than  he  in  deal- 
ing with  persons  in  authority,  but  there  was  a  chasm 
between  circumspection  on  his  part  and  anything 
like  compliance.     Underneath  all  his  certainty  he 


1874]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN-  LONDON-,  203 

knew  how  to  lose  his  temper  in  case  of  need ;  and  I 
remember  having  seen  him,  in  the  last  days  of  his 
life,  at  logger-heads  with  John  Lemoinne  who  had 
set  down  wittily  enough  in  an  article  in  the  Debuts 
precisely  what  we  needed  to  do  to  estrange  the  Eng- 
lish government  from  us.  In  his  legitimate  anger 
the  Comte  de  Jarnac  altogether  lost  control  of  him- 
self— he  raised  his  voice  and  stamped  his  foot ;  a 
little  more,  and  he  would  have  taken  vicarious 
revenge  on  the  incorrigible  joker,  and  used  me  as 
the  substitute. 

^extracts  from  tbe  CorteaponDence. 

London,  October  9,  1874. 

I  ran  across  Count  Schouvaloff  ^  at  the  Countess's 
tea.  He  acts  as  if  he  were  bent  more  than  any 
other  one  thing  on  emancipating  himself  from  any 
lurking  kindness  for  Germany  and  the  Germans. 
He  fell  brusquely  upon  Bismarck  h-propos  of  D*Ar- 
min ;  he  puts  no  faith  in  the  embezzlement — 
it  is  purely,  he  thinks,  a  scheme  for  revenge,  a 
stroke  (I  had  almost  said  a  stab  in  the  dark),  to 
injure  him  with  the  Emperor,  and  to  get  him  out 
of  the  way  as  a  possible  successor.  Then  he  crit- 
icised his  colleagues  from  Prussia  to  London, 
past  and  present.  Not  knowing  whether  his  purpose 
in  all  this  might  not  be  to  draw  me  out  I  spoke 
favorably  of  Munster.  Schouvaloff  is  not,  however, 
a  diplomatist  of  the  school  of  Brunnow.  He  speaks 
in  complimentary  terms  of  his  predecessor. 

1  He  had  been  ambassador  to  Russia,     Died  in  1889. 


^Q4  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1874. 

To-day  there  has  been  nothing  but  a  visit  to  the 
good  Georgiana  to  report.^  She  told  me  that  it  was 
the  conversion  of  the  Marquis  of  Ripon  that  had 
enraged  Gladstone,  and  caused  him  to  write  the 
pamphlet  in  which  he  insults  the  CathoHcs  and 
outrages  all  the  defenders  of  the  Established 
Church.  He  acts  as  if  he  had  taken  an  oath  to 
quarrel  with  his  whole  party. 

London,  October  26,  1874. 

This  morning  as  I  was  starting  to  mass,  William 
Guizot  arrived.  He  came  to  borrow  a  shirt  from 
me,  having  lost  his  luggage  en  route.  He  break- 
fasted with  Jarnac,  and  we  spent  a  large  part  of  the 
day,  chatting  about  his  father.  It  is  to  be  wished 
that  such  respect  for  the  memory  of  one's  father 
should  be  more  universal.  I  seemed  to  be  listen- 
ing to  M.  Guizot  himself  when  his  son  repeated 
some  of  his  talk.  ...  He  told  me  of  his  father's 
last  hours.  He  slept  a  great  deal  and  complained  of 
it.  **  I  am  sleepy,''  he  said,  ^^  I  struggle  against  this 
eternal  sleepiness,  but  otherwise  I  do  not  suffer." 
When  he  could  not  longer  read  he  fell  back  upon 
his  memory  and  used  to  recite  poetry  endlessly. 
When  he  could  not  recall  a  line,  he  would  become 
uneasy,  and  repeat  the  preceding  line  over  and  over 
again  ;  to  relieve  him  the  missing  verse  had  to  be 
found  and  William  was  called  to  supply  it.  The 
eve  of  his  death,  he  halted  on  a  verse  of  which  I  am 
not  sure ;  something  however  as  follows : 

1  Lady  G.  Fullerton. 


1874]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOJ\r.  iog 

//  avail  le  cosur  grand,  V esprit  beau,  .  .  . 
Le  roi,  .  .  . 

The  lacunce  in  which  he  could  not  fill  out.  They 
called  William  who  recognized  it  as  the  last  of  a 
poem  addressed  by  Moliere  to  a  father  who  had  lost 
his  son.^  In  his  weakness  M.  Guizot  had  confused 
it  with  a  triade  of  Corneille's  in  Nicomide^  where  the 
same  thought  occurs.     It  ends  in  this  way : 

At  tale  a  le  cceur  grand,  V  esprit  grand,  Vdme  grande, 
Et  toutes  les  gra7ideurs  dont  sefait  un  grand  roi. 

As  soon  as  William  had  cleared  up  the  mystery 
his  father  continued  tranquilly  with  Nicomede,  It 
was  a  favorite  piece  with  M.  Guizot ;  he  used  to 
recite  it  often  to  his  children.  As  to  the  lines 
from  Molifere  it  was  William  who  had  impressed  them 
upon  his  father's  memory  on  an  occasion  in  the  Sor- 
bonne.  William  was  mounting  the  platform  to  give 
"  Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin/*  when  the  death  of 
the  Due  de  Broglie  was  reported  to  him.  He  an- 
nounced it  and  closed  by  the  citation  from  Moliere, 
saying,  *'  These  are  lines  that  apply  as  well  to  the 
Duke  as  to  '  La  Mothe  Le  Vayer.*  " 

M.  Guizot  died  very  quietly,  fell  asleep  without 
any  one  seeing  him  go.  It  was  a  fit  ending  of  his 
life. 

We  spoke  of  his  history  of  France,  which  he  began 

1  "  A  Monsieur  La  Mothe  Le  Vayer  " : 

//  avait  le  cceur,  V esprit  beau,  Vdme  belle, 
Et  ce  sont  des  stijets  h  toujour s  le  pleurer^ 


206  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1874. 

at  twenty-three.  Three  volumes  are  published.  He 
left  the  notes,  which  complete  the  fourth  volume 
and  bring  the  history  down  to  1789,  to  his  daughter 
Henriette.^     The  volume  will  appear  soon. 

Henriette  is  the  head  of  the  family.  **  I  can 
neither  do  anything,  nor  decide  anything  without 
her  advice,  she  is  the  oldest  son  !  '* 

I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  repeat  the  rest  that 
he  told  me  ;  among  other  things,  he  mentioned  an 
impromptu  speech  his  father  delivered  at  Nimes. 
It  was  in  a  popular  assembly,  in  response  to  an  old 
man  who  came  to  remind  him  of  his  mother's 
charities  in  Nimes. 

It  was  a  masterpiece  of  tact,  caution  and  profound 
feeling.  Then  we  ran  over  twenty  of  his  speeches, 
William  reciting  them  as  soon  as  I  could  give  him 
the  clue  from  my  confused  memories. 

He  is  to  be  here  for  a  fortnight  making  some 
researches  in  the  British  Museum.  I  will  get  him 
an  invitation  to  the  Athenaeum  ;  do  you  know 
I  should  never  weary  of  this  prodigious  diction- 
ary ! 

I  finished  my  day  with  Jarnac,  at  Gunnersbury, 
at  the  Rothschilds.  You  go  there,  to  be  sure, 
through  closely  built-up  streets,  but  you  are  in  the 
country  when  you  arrive — their  park  is  a  "  country'' 
in  itself — an  endless  succession  of  meadows,  ponds, 
ancient  trees,  greenhouses  and  herds. 

We  strolled  about  among  these  marvels,  following 
the  Baron  on  his  pony.     He  cannot  walk  any  more, 

1  Oldest  daughter  of  M.  Guizot,  Mme.  Conrad  de  Witt. 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  207 

but  he  can  keep  his  balance.  The  outing  really  did 
him  good  ;  but  he  does  not  allow  himself  to  take  it 
but  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  The  rest  of  the  week 
he  is  in  the  City,  superintending  his  business.  This 
place  is  altogether  too  beautiful,  it  attaches  one  too 
closely  to  the  things  of  this  world  ;  it  is  better  to 
live  in  furnished  lodgings  such  as  those  from  which 
I  am  writing  you  to-night  !  Be  it  said  in  passing 
that  the  church  across  the  way  is  terribly  ritualistic ; 
superb  music  is  wafted  to  me  across  the  street  and 
through  my  closed  windows. 

London,  October  28,  1874. 

I  had  a  very  curious  conversation  with  Schou- 
valoff.  One  of  his  secretaries  urged  me  to  go  see 
him  some  morning.  The  talk  was  very  unguarded — 
very  blunt.  He  told  me  that  on  arriving  at  St. 
Petersburg  M.  Thiers  had  said,  "  I  am  ashamed  to 
represent  the  Republic,  it  is  the  greatest  sacrifice  I 
could  make  for  my  country — I,  the  advocate  par 
excellence  of  constitutional  monarchy.''  Then  Schou- 
valoff  spoke  of  the  Due  de  Broglie.  **  He  is  the  only 
statesman  you  have.  He  commands  my  greatest 
admiration.  He  is  the  only  one  who  has  made 
head  against  demagogism."  Then  he  told  me  that 
he  had  just  received  the  card  of  a  certain  *^  Monsieur, 
half  marshal,  half  convict,  M.  Bazaine.'*  Then  he 
spoke  of  the  Empress  Eugenie  who  it  seems  has 
made  a  'Mead  set'*  at  the  Czarina,  by  dint  of  going 
to  visit  her,  etc. 

M.  de  Jarnac  has  requested  me  to  put  our  con- 
versation into  a  despatch, 


2o8  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1874. 

London,  November  2,  1874. 

The  dinner  with  Schouvaloff  was  full  of  interest. 
He  is  a  good  talker,  nay,  even  a  good  story-teller,  is 
a  wit,  is  agreeable,  is  seducing.  Is  he  a  person  of 
solid  abilities  ?  No  one  could  tell  that  after  a  single 
interview. 

He  entertained  us  at  first  by  recounting  his  ex- 
penses, and  telling  how  he  had  been  robbed  of  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling  on  his  arrival  in  London. 
He  said  that  he  met  a  German  diplomat  in  the  train 
from  Paris,  and  found  after  talking  to  him  that  it 
was  the  first  secretary  of  the  German  Embassy  at 
Madrid  who  was  on  his  way  with  despatches,  Baron 

de He   was   going    to    England    to    see    his 

sister.  He  gave  him  some  curious  and  precise  in- 
formation about  Spain,  and  also  about  Bismarck 
and  Count  D'Armin.  It  almost  made  one  exclaim, 
the  resemblance  was  so  perfect.  No  one  but  an 
intimate  friend  of  Bismarck  could  have  been  so 
accurate.  On  the  way  to  the  boat,  at  the  station, 
they  recognized  each  other  again  and  shook  hands. 
The  Count  received  his  visit  in  London.  He  was 
authorized  by  Bismarck  to  put  him  on  the  track  of 
a  large  manufactory  of  Russian  counterfeit  bank- 
notes. You  could  have  the  information  for  500 
pounds  sterling  without  any  risks,  to  be  paid 
afterward.  The  money  must  be  deposited  at  a 
banker's  who  would  not  surrender  it  except  on  the 
Count's  signature.  As  the  Baron,  first  secretary, 
was  on  the  point  of  taking  his  leave,  the  check  was 
handed  to  him  .  .  .  and  he  left  as  he  said  he 
would.      It   must   be   rather   embarrassing   for   an 


1874.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  209 

ancient  director  of  the  Russian  police  to  be  tricked 
like  that.  He  was  really  artless,  and  confessed, 
notwithstanding  his  freedom  of  speech,  the  effect 
the  name  of  Bismarck,  when  properly  employed, 
has  on  him.  The  joke  is  that  it  was  probably  an 
agent  of  Bismarck  acting  under  his  orders  to  teach 
him  a  lesson  in  modesty. 

It  was  during  dinner  that  he  told  us  this  advent- 
ure, and  he  did  it  with  a  good  grace.  Afterward  I 
saw  him  and  said  to  him  :  "  There  is  only  one  man 
who  could  have  carried  off  that  farce  and  he  lives 
at  Clapham.'*  "That  is  precisely  the  name  of  the 
station,'*  replied  Schouvaloff.  For  my  part,  I  am 
convinced  that  it  was  one  of  the  agents  of  a  com- 
pany of  international  forgers  which  has  been  in  exist- 
ence for  some  years,  which  mystified  the  Emperor 
and  M.  Thiers,  and  has  made  offers  to  us.  Their 
stories  are  always  so  perfect,  and  betray  such  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  state  secrets,  that  one 
is  almost  forced  to  suppose  they  get  their  informa- 
tion from  Berlin.  **  I  shall  put  the  police  on  the 
scent,'*  said  the  Count.  I  fancy  that  on  reflection 
he  will  be  more  afraid  of  discovering  the  thief  than 
of  letting  him  escape. 

Afterward  he  told  us  of  his  journey  with  the 
Emperor  in  the  Caucasus.  The  journey  was  in  the 
night-time  but  it  was  light  as  day.  Over  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty  leagues  the  forest  was  illuminated 
right  and  left.  The  memory  of  it  stays  with  the 
narrator  like  a  nightmare,  as  you  can  readily 
understand.      Then    he   described   their   escort   of 


2  lO  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1874. 

three  hundred  cavalrymen  rushing  along  at  full 
speed. 

Every  now  and  then  a  horseman  would  catch  up 
a  woman  from  the  ground  without  stopping  and 
seat  her  in  front  of  him  on  his  saddle,  toss  her 
back  to  earth  again  when  he  was  weary  of  her — 
only  to  begin  all  over  again  this  eternal  '*  Merry 
go  round/*  with  the  next  woman  on  the  route  that 
should  catch  his  eye,  etc. 

He  said  it  was  folly  to  spend  so  much  in  men 
and  money  to  conquer  a  country  which  brings  in 
nothing.  He  is  wrong.  In  less  than  fifty  years, 
when  Switzerland  has  had  her  day,  every  one  will 
go  to  Circassia  to  play  at  ^^  Merry  go  round  '*  with 
the  women.  It  seems,  too,  that  there  are  as  many 
glaciers  there  as  heart  could  wish. 

After  dinner  we  had  a  more  serious  talk.  He 
said  that  Germany  is  not  so  strong  as  before  the 
war,  and  that  her  unity  is  at  the  mercy  of  Russia. 
He  bases  this  opinion  on  the  fact  that  she  must 
keep  at  least  400,000  men  in  garrison  about  Metz 
to  hold  Alsace  and  P>ance  in  check.  That  is 
true  ;  but  seems  rather  calculated  to  induce  Ger- 
many to  pick  a  quarrel  with  us  again  and  to  dis- 
pose of  us  for  good. 

He  gave  also  a  capital  take-off  of  a  Prussian 
municipal  council.  He  described  them  as  gather- 
ing together  for  ofilicial  business.  The  Mayor  or 
Magistrate  dresses  his  people  up  in  line.  *^  No.  2, 
put  in  your  belly  !  No.  5,  advance  !  ''  Eyes  right ! 
eyes  front !  forward  march  ! ''  to  the  chamber  where 
their  deliberations  are  held. 


I874-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  2 1 1 

London,  November  8,  1874. 

The  difference  has  been  explained  tome  (by  the 
daughter  of  my  landlady),  between  the  church  across 
the  street  and  the  one  she  attends  in  Piccadilly. 
There  is  singing  in  both,  sacerdotal  vestments  in 
both ;  but  across  the  way  the  priest  turns  toward 
the  altar  during  the  consecration,  and  in  Piccadilly 
he  turns  toward  the  public.  She  could  not  tell  me 
the  reasons  for  it !  '*  Across  the  street  they  make 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  they  hide  a  rosary 
under  their  robes ;  and  what  is  worse  than  all, 
they  confess  to  the  young  ^^  clergyman  '*  who  are 
likely  at  any  time  to  marry  into  their  families.  It 
is  horrible  !  If  our  priests  were  like  yours,  I  should 
not  be  so  scandalized  at  it.''  There  is  some  truth 
in  this  reflection. 

The  truth  is,  the  ritualists  turn  toward  the  altar 
because  they  believe  that  something  happens  on  the 
altar  and  not  simply  in  the  souls  of  the  spectators. 
They  believe  in  the  miracle,  the  mystery,  in  the 
divine  action  of  the  sacrament.  They  are  eager  to 
be  Christians.  I  realize  that  it  is  much  easier,  but 
more  dangerous,  to  believe  that  everything  happens 
in  the  soul  of  the  faithful. 

Since  you  are  fond  of  clever  sayings,  here  is  a 
good  citation  from  Pitt.  They  are  his  last  words  in 
public,  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  Lord-Mayor. 
Pitt  had  been  toasted  as  the  saviour  of  his  coun- 
try. **  Do  not  say  that  a  man  has  been  the  saviour 
of  England  ;  she  has  saved  herself  by  her  efforts  and 
has  saved  her  neighbors  by  her  example.''  Then 
he  sat  down.     Equally  brief  and  eloquent. 


212  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON.  [1874. 

Hatfield-House,  I  November  21,  1874. 

I  reached  "  King's  Cross  Station  *'  at  half-past 
five.  There  I  found  Lord  Carnarvon  and  helped 
him  expedite  the  sending  of  a  belated  despatch  to 
China,  which  reached  its  destination  about  the  same 
time  as  we  reached  ours.  A  carriage  was  waiting 
for  us  at  the  station  at  Hatfield  and  took  us  up 
by  the  same  steep  uncomfortable  road.  As  we 
approached  the  *'  house/'  the  windows  all  caught 
the  moonlight  and  flashed  back  at  us  a  weird,  color- 
less flame.  You  enter  by  a  guard-room  with  forty 
suits  of  armor  standing  sentinel,  then  through  a 
grand  hall  surrounded  by  books,  where  there  was  a 
fireplace  with  great  logs  burning.  I  found  myself 
among  acquaintances ;  in  an  Elizabethan  castle ; 
there  was  Lord  Lyons  with  Sheffield,  Lady  Stafford 
Northcote  and  her  second  daughter,  and  the 
Marchioness  and  her  sister.  We  passed  down  a 
gallery  fully  as  long  as  the  Gallery  des  Glaces  at 
Versailles. 

The  Marquis  came  from  London  with  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote.  We  went  up  to  our  rooms ;  the  stair- 
case was  winding  and  of  wood.  I  half  expected  to 
meet  James  the  First.  This  relic  of  the  sixteenth 
century  landed  us  among  chambers  with  little 
diamond-paned  windows,  but  for  the  rest  supplied 
with  all  the  comfort  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Big 
open  fireplaces,  cabinets  of  all  kinds,  comprising — 
yes — the  one  we  have  so  much  trouble  in  finding  at 
night  in  our  hovels  in  France.     It  almost  makes  one 

1  Residence  of  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury* 


1874.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  2 13 

willing  to  be  ill.  All  my  things  were  ready  and  I 
dressed.  Fortunately  I  found  Sheffield  on  the  stair- 
case ;  without  him  I  should  have  been  lost  in  the 
numerous  ^*  halls.'*  To  reach  the  dining-room  we 
passed  by  the  gallery  of  a  private  chapel.  Finally, 
we  found  ourselves  in  the  small  dining-room,  the  one 
with  the  old  wainscoting.  The  dinner  was  excellent. 
The  musicians  played  softly  during  the  whole  time. 
When  dessert  was  served  the  children  appeared  ;  the 
two  daughters  stood  by  the  Marquis  and  the  two 
sons  by  the  side  of  Lady  Salisbury.  One  of  them 
was  Lord  Cranborne.  When  I  think  that  this  young 
scamp  of  twelve  is  heir  of  this  castle  and  of  so  many 
others,  I  am  overcome  with  respect  for  him  !  After 
dinner,  we  went  into  other  salons ;  everywhere 
open  fires,  lights,  an  air  of  vastness  and  all  this  for 
about  ten  people.  A  man  must  indeed  be  out  of 
sorts  with  the  world  who  could  not  grow  fond  of 
life  under  these  conditions. 

In  a  corner  of  my  room,  a  programme  for  the  day 
was  posted.  "  Chapel  at  nine  o'clock.'*  What  shall 
I  do  ?  Breakfast  at  ten  ;  then  hunt ;  then  dinner  at 
one  o'clock  ;  tea  at  five  ;  and  then  dine  again  at 
eight !  How  can  people  live  by  candlelight  in  these 
great  rooms  ?     No  wonder  they  see  ghosts. 

After  dinner  we  were  in  a  room  too  large  for 
conversation,  so  we  promenaded  in  groups  and  lost 
each  other.  The  women  and  children  at  last  sur- 
rounded Stafford  Northcote.  He  does  not  preach 
to  them  as  in  Parliament,  but  tells  them  stories,  or 
rather,  funny  dialogues.  I  lost  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
what  he  said.     I  could  not  follow  it. 


214  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1874. 

Hatfield,  November  21,  1874. 

This  has  been  one  of  those  beautiful  days  in  late 
autumn  that  are  not  uncommon  in  this  rich  Eng- 
lish country.  I  have  followed  the  hunt  all  morn- 
ing, across  the  ferns,  stopping  in  admiration  before 
the  prehistoric  oaks.  The  end  of  the  year  has 
yellowed  their  crests.  The  sun  shed  a  golden  light 
on  the  low-lands.  I  was  more  interested  in  inan- 
imate nature  than  in  pheasants.  We  set  out  in 
two  divisions  facing  one  another,  with  the  game 
between  :  it  ended  in  a  general  massacre.  The 
three  members  of  the  Cabinet  took  part  in  it ;  the 
Marquis  of  Salisbury  seemed  a  bit  preoccupied.  .  .  . 
I  followed  Sheffield,  who  is  a  capital  shot.  It  was 
shooting  enough  just  to  watch  him.  I  feel  no 
desire  myself  to  shed  blood,  not  even  that  of  the 
lower  animals. 

We  began  the  day  with  prayer  in  the  chapel,  the 
guests  were  in  the  gallery,  the  family  and  servants 
below.  The  chaplain  said  prayers,  and  we  chanted 
a  psalm,  the  organ  accompanying.  At  ten  o'clock 
we  met  at  breakfast.  I  was  near  Lyons,  who  is  always 
pleasant.  Some  neighbors  arrived  booted  for  the 
chase.  There  was  no  time  for  serious  chat  the 
whole  day  through. 

As  we  were  coming  back  the  castle  stood  out  in 
black  against  a  clear  sky ;  it  was  magnificent.  I 
shall  make  no  effort  to  describe  it  to  you — in  the 
compass  of  a  letter.  On  the  way  back  we  came  across 
the  stump  of  the  Elizabeth  oak,  carefully  puttied 
and  encased.  It  was  under  this  oak  that  Elizabeth 
was  told  of  the  death  of  her  beloved  sister,  which 


1874]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON  2 15 

made  her  queen.  As  we  three  stood  together  there 
— one  of  us  among  the  greatest  of  the  peers  of  the 
realm — I  asked  myself  which  of  us  runs  the  best 
chance  of  one  day  becoming  king.  I  fancy  I  do. 
Which  only  shows  the  difference  between  this 
favored  land  and  our  unhappy  revolutionary  France. 

Hatfield,  November  22,  1874. 

There  is  a  superb  white  frost  this  morning,  and  a 
great  expanse  of  sky  and  landscape  in  view  from  my 
window.     Yesterday  evening  the  Jarnacs  arrived. 

We  dined  in  the  large  hall  with  the  gallery  on  the 
second  floor.  My  neighbor  was  a  very  young  man : 
I  asked  him  if  he  was  at  the  University ;  as  it  turns 
out  he  is  a  member  of  Parliament,  very  young,  how- 
ever, and  at  no  pains  to  dissemble  his  age.  He  is 
the  nephew  of  the  Marquis,  a  Mr.  Balfour,^  I  believe. 
At  the  close  of  the  dinner,  Lord  Cranborne  sat 
down  between  us.  I  had  retained  him  for  the  '*  pass- 
wine,'*  and  he  did  the  honors.  He  said  :  **  I  shall  be 
an  ambassador,  my  brother  a  general,  the  other  an 
admiral,  and  the  last  a  bishop.'*  After  dinner  I 
chatted  with  the  young  mathematician  ;  he  delights 
me  much  with  his  frank  look  and  lively  intellect. 
Stafford  Northcote  began  his  Devonshire  dialogues 
again,  which  were  a  bit  dreary.  Then  he  played 
some  card-tricks.  I  did  not  make  a  point  of  recol- 
lecting all   the   "  good   things  '*  {a  la  Greville}  as 

1  The  Right  Honorable  A.  J.  Balfour,  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury 
under  the  last  ministry,  and  at  present  leader  of  the  Conservative 
party  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

2  An  allusion  to  the  GreviUe  Memoirs. 


2 16  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1874. 

the  Marquis  of  Salisbury  would  put  it),  that  were 
said. 

I  had  a  charming  walk  this  morning  over  the 
frosty  ground.  Ferns  and  boughs  were  clothed  in 
white  that  glistened  in  the  sunshine.  We  found  the 
rest  of  the  household  at  breakfast  on  our  return. 
Then  there  were  prayers.  It  is  one  o'clock  and  another 
meal  to  eat !  I  can't,  simply  :  I  ate  a  pheasant's 
wing  this  morning,  and  can  do  no  more.  Don't 
copy  my  letters ;  there  is  nothing  in  them  worth 
while. 


THE  YEAR  1875. 
Bitracta  trom  tbe  Coxxcevont>cncc. 

Woburn-Abbey,!  January  3, 1875. 

It  is  a  mistake,  I  think,  to  feel  that  the  power  of 
the  clergy  lies  in  its  wealth ;  the  contrary  is  true. 
When  a  cleric  is  rich,  he  is  an  object  of  prey  to  the 
rest  of  mankind,  and  to  find  a  pretext  for  devouring 
him  they  change  a  word  in  his  credo  and  oblige  him 
to  choose  between  his  riches  and  his  faith  ;  or  it  may 
be  they  despoil  him  simply,  without  giving  him  any 
choice  in  the  matter,  and  hang  him,  as  they  did  the 
last  Bishop  of  Woburn,  to  a  tree  in  his  own  park. 
They  show  the  tree  still—"  the  Abbot's  tree.''  If  I 
had  been  told  he  was  still  swinging  on  its  branches 
I  should  have  believed  it,  my  imagination  was  so 
worked  upon  by  this  vast  domain,  with  its  centenary 
shaded  lanes  which  I  passed  through  for  the  first 
time  in  the  moonlight. 

Nothing  seems  to  have  been  changed  in  the 
cloister  with  its  quadrangular  court  bordered  on 
all  four  sides  by  a  gallery.     The  immense  building  is 

1  Residence  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  Henry  VIII.  gave  him  a 
baronetcy  in  1 538,  and  the  Abbey  of  Tavistock.  Edward  VI.  cre- 
ated him  Earl  of  Bedford  in  1550,  and  gave  him  Woburn.  The 
duchy  dates  from  1694. 

217 


2 18  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

divided  off  into  vast  cells.  I  occupy  one  with  a 
canopy-bed.  Was  it  here  three  hundred  years  ago 
when  monks  prayed  and  studied  in  the  building — 
came  here  in  their  quest  for  heaven  ?  The  bell 
which  calls  me  to  dinner  called  them  to  morning 
prayers.  Put  not  your  trust,  however,  too  implicitly 
in  my  first  impressions ;  they  were  received,  you 
remember,  by  moonlight ;  to-morrow  may  bring 
forth  something  quite  different. 

Woburn-Abbey,  January  4, 1875. 

I  was  decidedly  the  victim  of  my  imagination  last 
night.  The  ancient  Benedictine  Abbey  does  not 
exist  by  daylight.  What  I  took  for  one,  is  a  castle 
deliberately  constructed  down  in  a  hole,  in  the  taste 
of  Escurial,  and  about  as  cheerful.  ... 

Singular  idea  to  have  surrounded  this  monastery 
castle  by  a  glacis  which  rises  nearly  to  a  level  with 
its  roof.  The  embankments  are  laid  out  in  the 
form  of  a  fortification  such  as  Vauban  might  have 
planned.  There  is  something  grand  in  the  total 
effect,  because  of  the  scale  on  which  it  is  all  laid 
out ;  but  it  lacks  art.  The  house  is  partly  shut  in 
by  immense  out-buildings,  that  cut  off  the  horizon 
— a  semicircle  of  stables,  barns,  tennis-courts  and 
what  not.  Inside  there  is  a  great  square  court,  green 
with  turf,  but  nothing  about  it  to  inspire  gayety ; 
and  round  about  the  court  there  are  interminable 
portrait  galleries.  On  the  whole  it  is  severe,  monot- 
onous and  melancholy. 

Last  night  I  entered,  without  suspecting  it,  on  the 
second  floor,  and  as  we  went  downstairs  to  dinner. 


i87S.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOI^.  2tg 

I  thought  the  table  was  spread  in  the  cellar  of  the 
convent.  The  mistake  was  mine,  we  dined  in  a 
dining-room  on  the  first  floor.  The  house  is  built  on 
a  hill-side, — one  end  is  a  story  higher  than  the  other. 
You  spend  your  time  in  this  vast  structure  in  walking 
about  from  one  room  to  another  so  as  a  little  to 
utilize  the  space. 

The  danger  is  of  losing  oneself  in  the  endless 
waxed  halls  (they  all  look  alike),  and  of  passing  the 
door  you  are  hunting  for.  You  learn,  finally,  to 
guide  yourself  by  the  portraits  hung  along  the  walls 
of  the  interior  gallery.  I  spend  most  of  my  time  in 
the  library,  in  the  midst  of  old  books,  which  I  have 
rummaged  among  a  good  deal  in  search  for  a  history 
of  the  Russells.  The  history  of  that  family  since 
the  times  of  Henry  VIII.  is  in  a  measure  the  history 
of  England.  Unhappily  the  origin  of  all  these 
splendid  fortunes  is  always  the  same — the  confisca- 
tion of  church  property,  and  Royal  donations  ;  and 
it  often  involves  also  the  hanging  of  the  last  abbot, 
as  at  Woburn. 

Every  day  we  dine  in  a  different  dining-room. 
Yesterday  it  was  downstairs,  under  the  gaze  of  ten 
portraits  (full  length)  by  Van  Dyck.  We  were  in 
ordinary  dinner-dress.  There  was  nothing  to  dazzle 
one  but  the  plate,  that  flashed  back  the  light  in  the 
centre  of  the  hall,  and  the  deep-blue  Sevres  service 
(or  rather  an  infinitesimal  part  of  it)  which  was  a 
**  diplomatic  '*  gift  to  the  Duke  at  the  time  of  the 
treaty  in  1763.  After  dinner  and  wine  we  went  up 
again  to  a  beautiful  drawing-room  two  stories  high 
with  a  magnificent  portrait  by  Reynolds  over  the 


220  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

fireplace  of  a  certain  Marchioness  of  Tavistock.  A 
Tavistock  is  a  Russell  who  is  waiting  for  the  Bed- 
ford dukedom.  As  it  was  all  very  informal,  the 
evening  closed  early,  after  a  little  talk  and  some 
billiards  in  a  hall  near  by. 

One  has  to  get  up  early  to  be  in  time  for  breakfast. 
With  much  circumnavigation  this  morning  I  did 
find  the  breakfast-room  at  last.  It  was  in  the  hall 
that  contains  the  four-and-twenty  Canaletti.  The 
sun  poured  into  the  room  (for  the  winter  seems 
past)  and  played  over  the  *  Canal  Grande,'  the 
*  Rialto,'  '  San  Marco  '  and  *  tutti  quanti  V  and  lit  up 
the  contours  of  two  vile  Sevres  vases  that  are  worth 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs. 

After  breakfast  I  visited,  with  the  Duke,  the 
apartments  reserved  for  Royalty.  They  contain 
many  historical  portraits,  three  or  four  by  Van 
Dyck,  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough  ;  almost  all 
pictures  of  members  of  the  family.  One  in  special 
was  of  a  former  possessor  of  the  dukedom  :  in  calling 
my  attention  to  it  the  present  Duke  said  :  *^  He  was 
in  his  day  the  eldest  son  ;  fortunately  he  died  young 
for  he  was  a  gambler.''  The  "fortunately''  was  sig- 
nificant in  the  mouth  of  an  heir.  The  Duke  handed 
me  over  to  Lord  Arthur  with  whom  I  visited  the 
grounds  a  bit.  The  park  is  layed  out  on  a  grand 
scale,  there  are  meadows  without  end,  and  fine  old 
trees.  Deer  and  partridges  swarm  about  the  castle. 
Hunger  and  fear  of  the  foxes  keep  them  close  to 
human  habitations.  Here  in  England  the  fox  reigns 
supreme.  He  eats  young  swans,  chicks,  eggs,  even 
fowl  kept  up  in  coops.     Complain  to  the  neighbor- 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  221 

ing  squire  and  he  does  nothing — the  thief  is  privi- 
leged to  die  by  the  pack-hounds  only. 

On  my  first  round  with  Lord  Russell  this  morning 
I  visited  the  sculpture  gallery.  It  contains  some 
few  antiques  and  a  great  many  imitations  and  Eng- 
lish things.  In  one  corner  there  was  a  little  sanctuary 
to  Charles  James  Fox,  with  a  bust  of  him  in  an  arched 
niche.  I  have  seen  many  such  in  "  Whig  ''  houses. 
Poor  Fox  was  perspiring  sadly  in  the  general  thaw. 
It  looks  as  if  things  in  general  might  be  melting  on 
this  low  ground.  Through  a  covered  gallery  that 
almost  encircled  the  house,  we  went  to  the  **  dairy  '' — 
a  Chinese  dairy  ;  but  I  abstain  from  speaking  of  it — 
it  was  all  so  damp  the  bare  thought  of  it  gives  me  a 
chill. 

At  "  luncheon ''  I  caused  a  scandal  by  my  absti- 
nence. They  had  noticed  already  how  little  I  had 
eaten  that  morning.  What  should  I  say — except 
that  I  had  not  yet  had  time  to  digest  my  breakfast. 
It  was  a  pity  not  to  do  honor  to  a  repast  of  which  the 
chef  had  furnished  me  with  the  menu  when  I  paid 
him  a  visit  in  his  stronghold — the  kitchen,  or  rather 
the  laboratory — a  great  hall  two  stories  high,  in  which 
there  were  wood-fires,  coal-fires,  flaming  gas,  and  not 
an  odor,  nor,  so  far  as  it  was  avoidable,  an  offensive 
detail.  But  you  should  have  been  with  me  when  I 
penetrated  into  an  adjoining  room  and  found  the 
French  "  artist  **  in  the  midst  of  his  books — Monsieur 

X who  put  his  hand  to  the  sauce-pan  for  the  first 

time  in  182 1  when  Napoleon  was  dying.  The  good 
man  talked  of  the  present  century  with  a  melancholy 
air,  of  the  decadence  of  his  art.     He  warmed  up  a 


222  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON  [1875. 

bit  in  the  course  of  telling  me  that  he  has  been 
fortunate  enough  to  succeed  at  last  in  solving  the 
mushroom  problem. 

"Is  it  satisfactory?''  I  asked.  '' Yes,  the  Mush- 
room-soup/' he  answered — "^ pur^e  de  champignon  ''  ; 
and  as  he  spoke  he  cast  his  eyes  upon  the  papers  that 
littered  his  table — the  algebraic  formulae  no  doubt. 
Then  we  visited  the  china-closet.  We  were  shown 
the  porcelain  service,  given  by  Louis  XV.,  all  in  the 
famous  blue  Sevres,  there  are  from  three  to  four 
hundred  pieces  of  it.  After  *'  luncheon  "  we  visited 
conservatories  without  number.  There  is  one  for 
every  month  in  the  year.  Peaches  and  grapes  are  in 
season  the  year  round.  The  **  farm  ''  (where  I  saw 
great  basins  full  of  milk  with  cream  on  the  top  and 
great  basins  full  of  milk  still  foaming  and  warm — 
all  of  it  for  the  **  House  "  )  is  a  model  of  cleanliness. 
There  are  also  large  shops  on  the  estate — the  Duke 
has  undertaken  to  supply  all  the  stores  needed  by 
the  establishment  and  in  the  management  of  the 
farms.  The  running  expenses  of  his  country  places 
amount  to  250,000  francs.  Fortune  seems  to  have 
taken  a  delight  in  lavishing  favors  on  the  present 
Duke,  and  at  a  touch  of  her  wand  endowed  him  with 
a  duchy,  a  marquisate,  vast  estates,  more  than  six 
millions  a  year  in  ground  rents,  the  ownership  of  a 
quarter  of  London.  And  he  has  remained,  in  spite 
of  all  this  splendor,  what  he  was  before  it  came — a 
younger  son  in  a  great  family,  satisfied  with  a 
younger  son's  competence.  Practically  he  is  the 
administrator,  simply,  of  this  great  fortune,  which 
accident  has  brought  to  him.     He  is  simple,  sober, 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,^  223 

perfectly  natural  and  independent,  in  the  midst  of 
this  luxury  of  which  he  has  no  right  to  divest  him- 
self, and  which  he  passes  on  to  his  guest.  His  son, 
too,  is  unassuming,  as  silent  at  the  table  as  before  he 
became  the  Marquis  of  Tavistock.  There  are  also 
two  daughters.  The  elder  is  noticably  solicitous  to 
escape  attention.  She  has  a  dowry,  however,  and 
the  second  son,  Lord  Herbrand,^  also  will  have  an 
"•  estate.*'  The  Duke  said  to  me  :  "  If  any  one  tells 
you  I  am  a  miser,  say  to  him  that  I  am  economizing 
for  my  daughters'  dowries  and  to  purchase  an  estate 
for  my  younger  son."  The  young  ladies  are  simpler 
in  taste  than  the  *^  Nobodies  "  of  London.  They 
have  never  been  on  the  Continent !  They  do  not 
ride  horseback ! 

Woburn-Abbey,  January  5,  1875. 

This  morning  I  visited,  with  the  Duke,  the  schools, 
and  the  cottages  rented  to  working  men  at  the  rate 
of  one  shilling  threepence  a  week.  The  climax 
of  these  splendid  charities  is  the  workhouse,  main- 
tained jointly  by  sixteen  parishes — an  almshouse 
and  a  refuge.  It  represents  the  minimum  guaran- 
teed to  every  inhabitant  of  Britain  overtaken  by 
distress  or  old  age,  no  matter  who  he  is  nor  what 
he  may  have  done.  The  landed  proprietor  or  pro- 
prietors in  the  country  have  to  supply  the  poor,  for 
as  long  a  time  as  they  may  demand  it,  with  the  nec- 
essaries of  life.  The  only  limit  to  the  obligation 
to  give  is  the  need  of  the  claimant — a  dangerous 
principle  anywhere — but  what  shall  one  say  of  it 
1  Present  Duke  of  Bedford, 


224  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

here  where  the  house  in  question  is  less  than  half 
filled  ? 

We  had  three  '^radicals"  from  the  neighborhood 
in  to  '*  luncheon/*  one  of  them  with  spectacles  on 
and  prominent  incisors — a  veritable  rodent ;  another 
an  insinuating  reverend,  a  veritable  fox.  It  is  from 
no  lack  of  good  will  on  their  part,  in  my  judgment, 
that  they  do  not  dismember  '*his  grace.''  As  the 
Duke  is  a  liberal  he  has  to  listen  to  them  and  play 
the  host. 

This  morning  I  read  the  history  of  Henry  VIII. 
in  a  big  folio.  Such  a  story  needs  a  volume  of  that 
size.  What  a  scoundrel  he  was  (he  had  many 
natural  charms),  and  what  scoundrels  there  were  all 
about,  to  abet  his  hypocrisies,  and  self-indulgences, 
and  passions.  I  really  believe  we  are  better  than 
that.  The  history  of  his  mistresses  would  be  to  the 
last  degree  funny,  if  every  chapter  did  not  end  in 
blood.  During  the  day  I  followed  the  hunt :  always 
and  everywhere  the  same  massacre  of  pheasants 
with  their  beautiful  plumage,  and  of  hares  that 
squeal.  What  a  pity  the  sport  is  so  cruel !  I 
almost  killed  a  fox  !  If  somebody  had  not  knocked 
up  my  gun,  the  Duke's  standing  in  the  county 
would  have  been  ruined. 

This  evening  we  dined  once  more  in  the  Van 
Dyck  room — Van  Dyck  to  the  right,  to  the  left, 
on  every  side — vessels  of  gold  on  the  sideboard,  a 
piece  among  the  rest  by  Benvenuto  Cellini.  After 
dinner  we  spent  some  time  in  the  drawing-room  that 
contains  the  beautiful  portrait  by  Reynolds.  We 
were  between  two  immense  open  fireplaces — caught 


i87S-]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  225 

between  two  fires.  It  was  so  uncomfortable,  not- 
withstanding the  distance  between  them,  that  it 
was  impossible  to  stay  there,  and  little  by  little  the 
guests  withdrew  to  the  side  gallery,  where  there 
was  tea,  billiards,  whist,  each  in  front  of  a  fireplace 
that  it  is  accurate  to  describe  as  infernal.  In  a 
glass  case  there  I  saw  a  cane  that  had  belonged  to 
Charles  I. 

London,  January  8,  1875. 

I  have  been  with  Borthwick  to  the  office  of  the 
Morning  Post,  I  assisted,  till  one  o*clock,  at  the 
printing  of  a  newspaper.  It  is  a  marvel  of  organiza- 
tion ;  everything  is  done  quietly — more  than  a  hun- 
dred compositors  at  the  work.  The  MS.  is  delivered 
to  them  at  three  o*clock,  and  half  an  hour  afterward 
is  in  print.  Articles  come  in  from  all  quarters  ready 
for  press.  Every  one  has  his  appointed  task.  In 
the  middle  there  is  a  director  who  does  not  touch 
a  pen.  He  is  a  rich  man  who  was  a  candidate  at 
the  last  elections.  Naturally  he  is  well  paid.  Each 
compositor  receives  about  ten  francs  a  day.  Organ- 
izations, division  of  labor,  plenty  of  money,  are  the 
secrets  of  it. 

Extracts  from  tbe  flotes* 

THE  ILLNESS  AND  DEATH  OF  THE  COMTE  DE 
JARNAC. 

The  only  thing  that  I  have  still  to  mention,  is  the 
regretted  death  of  my  superior.  He  had  been,  since 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  suffering  from  an  attack 
of  asthma.     Dr.  Vintras  advised  him  to  take  a  vaca- 


226  A  DIPLOMA  r  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

tion,  but  in  vain.  A  run  to  Brighton  for  forty-eight 
hours  was  the  only  rest  he  took.  I  was  struck  by 
his  exhaustion  at  the  Hospital  Banquet.  At  the 
close  of  his  toasts,  which  were  so  full  of  "  humor/' 
— models  of  happy  characterization,  he  had  been 
unable  to  speak  above  a  whisper.  The  failure  of 
his  voice  had  imparted  an  air  of  homely  sincerity  to 
his  words  about  the  hospital  and  the  suffering  here 
below.  He  was  depressed  when  he  took  his  leave, 
though  he  spoke  to  me  of  my  own  affairs  with  a 
genuine  interest.  Nothing  could  persuade  him  to 
take  the  precautions  his  condition  demanded.  On 
the  evening  of  the  17th  of  March,  notwithstanding 
a  return  of  bitter  cold  weather,  he  went  out  before 
dinner,  as  was  his  habit,  to  make  the  circuit  of  the 
Serpentine.  He  was  dining  with  some  friends. 
Nobody  could  have  foretold  that  they  would  never 
see  him  again.  The  next  morning  I  was  awakened 
very  early  by  Vintras.  H^  had  been  called  in  the 
night  by  the  Ambassador,  and  had  found  him  suffer- 
ing with  pleurisy  ;  he  had  prescribed  three  leeches 
to  minimize  the  local  pain,  and  the  danger  of  irrita- 
tion from  coughing.  He  did  not  attempt  to  hide 
from  me  that  the  combination  of  asthma  and  pleurisy 
was  very  serious.  It  was  two  days,  however,  before 
anybody  suspected  how  serious,  and  we  suffered  the 
patient  to  run  no  end  of  risks  in  our  unwillingness 
to  believe  that  he  was  ill. 

The  embarrassment  of  my  position  was  extreme. 
I  had  to  attend  the  Queen's  levee  in  the  Comte  de 
Jarnac's  stead  on  Friday.  I  had  to  write  to  the 
Due  Decazes  at  once  to  prepare  him  for  the  serious- 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  227 

ness  of  the  attack.  I  had  to  reply  to  a  host  of  let- 
ters that  poured  in  from  all  sides,  as  soon  as  the 
newspapers  had  spread  the  alarm.  I  had  to  stand 
between  the  count's  family,  who  felt  as  yet  quite 
secure,  and  the  physician,  who  was  seriously  alarmed. 
By  the  19th  an  apparent  turn  for  the  better  had 
been  taken  and  it  was  announced  that  the  count 
would  be  up  the  next  day.  .  .  .  The  sense  of  my 
responsibility  was  beginning  to  weigh  on  me.  I 
took  the  Marchioness  of  Ely,  who  was  sent  by  the 
Queen,  into  my  confidence.  Some  hours  later  Dr. 
Jenner  appeared ;  the  Queen  had  sent  him  to  make 
an  examination  of  the  patient.  Dr.  Vindras  and  I 
could  ask  nothing  better. 

I  can  see  him  still — the  little  man  without  a  glance 
to  spare,  brusque,  hurried — coming  into  my  office 
watch  in  hand.  All  the  doors  opened  at  the  name 
of  the  Queen.  He  came  back  soon  very  much  ex- 
cited ;  he  almost  held  me  personally  responsible  for 
the  state  in  which  he  found  the  patient.  "  He  is 
very  bad — this  can't  be  trifled  with.  I  have  been 
asked  when  he  can  get  up  ?  Ask  me  rather  whether 
he  will  ever  get  up  ?  "  He  gave  me  a  telegram  for 
the  Queen  and  said  he  would  be  back  soon.  He 
came  three  times  that  day.  Three  calls  from  Jen- 
ner on  the  same  day  was  the  worst  symptom  pos- 
sible. 

I  wrote  to  Paris  the  next  day,  the  21st :  "  The 
poor  count  is  very  low.  Yesterday  I  notified  (by 
telegram)  the  Comte  de  Paris  and  the  family.  I 
repeated  the  message  this  morning  after  a  wretched 
night.     The  disease  has  attacked  the  lungs.     Jenner 


228  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

came  twice  yesterday,  leaving  in  my  hands  each  time 
a  more  and  more  alarming  telegram  for  the  Queen. 
At  five  o'clock,  he  ordered  a  physician  for  the 
night.  .  .  .  This  great  misfortune  is  a  terrible  lesson 
to  all  of  us.  He  had  from  the  first  but  one  ambition  ; 
he  sacrificed  it  for  twenty-six  years  to  a  sense  of 
duty,  he  succeeded  in  it  at  last  with  a  completeness 
that  derived  an  added  brilliancy  from  his  long  self- 
abnegation.  He  became,  what  he  had  always  wished 
to  be,  an  ambassador ;  his  name,  his  authority,  his 
knowledge,  his  experience,  his  social  standing  in 
France  and  in  England,  were  to  become  at  last  of 
service  to  his  country — he  was  to  be  permitted  after 
all  these  years  to  do  for  France  what  he  could  do  so 
well.  And  he  had  barely  made  a  start — had  just 
begun  to  come  into  notice  ;  and  ...  he  died  pre- 
cisely because  he  had  succeeded.  If  he  had  contin- 
ued as  an  Irish  landlord,  simply,  his  asthma  would 
have  amounted  to  nothing.  Alas  !  When  he  took 
up  the  direction  of  the  embassy,  he  forgot  the  pre- 
vious twenty-six  years  ;  he  thought  himself  still  the 
Comte  de  Rohan-Chabot,  as  in  the  days  of  his  dis- 
cussions with  Palmerston.  .  .  ." 

I  added,  in  an  other  letter,  the  22d  of  March  : 
"  The  disease  grows  worse  hour  by  hour.  ...  I 
was  interrupted  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  himself  who 
came  with  the  Princess  to  make  inquiries.  There 
IS  nothing  all  these  grand  personages  can  do  !  " 

The  same  day  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening 
I  wrote  :  **  The  Comte  de  Jarnac  died  while  I  was 
at  the  door  speaking  with  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Wales,  v/ho  had  come  to  ask  how  he  was.     He 


1875.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  229 

had  at  no  time  suspected  he  was  to  die.  He  lost 
consciousness  ten  minutes  before  the  end,  and  ex- 
pired without  suffering.  The  people  at  his  bed- 
side did  not  notice  that  all  was  over  till  some  time 
afterward.  Yes,  all  was  over ;  and,  (a  word  to  those 
who  reach  the  end  of  their  journey  after  a  long 
struggle,  or  despair  of  reaching  it),  how  cold  this 
Protestant  dying  is,  without  a  prayer,  without  a  syl- 
lable of  hope  !  '* 

The  news  spread  immediately  in  the  crowd  in  the 
street  in  front  of  the  house  and  passed  on  to  the 
town.  Certain  personages  I  myself  notified,  and 
they  all  of  them  either  hastened  to  call  that  evening 
or  sent  messages. 

I  returned  to  the  embassy  by  ten  o'clock  and  found 
the  place  empty  and  the  doors  open ;  I  made  my 
way  into  where  the  body  lay  hardly  cold,  and  no- 
body to  stop  me.  One  lamp  was  burning  in  a  corner, 
but  no  one  was  there  praying  :  he  was  a  Protestant. 

It  was  I  who  spent  the  night  by  the  body  of  M. 
de  Jarnac.  I  said  all  the  prayers  I  could  think  of. 
I  had  leisure  to  look  at  the  head  (now  cold  and 
severe)  that  I  had  always  seen  smiling  and  kindly. 
Up  to  the  last  moment  he  preserved  for  those  about 
him  his  customary  playful  manner.  Death  gave  his 
face  a  beautiful  and  serious  expression — gave  prom- 
inence to  his  will,  to  which  his  entire  life  had  been 
subordinate.  He  looked  like  an  effigy  upon  the 
tomb  of  some  old  warrior.  During  the  vigil  I  wrote 
the  following  official  notice  to  the  ministry  : 

"  It  is  my  painful  duty  to  inform  you  that  the 
Comte    de  Jarnac  succumbed  this  evening    at  six 


230  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

o'clock,  to  the  pleurisy,  by  which  he  was  attacked 
last  Thursday.  The  messages  that  I  have  sent 
you  day  by  day  will  have  informed  you  of  the  pro- 
gress of  the  disease  which  neither  the  most  tender 
care,  nor  the  efforts  of  science  could  check.  As 
soon  as  it  was  noised  abroad  that  the  French  am- 
bassador was  ill,  the  Queen  expressed  a  wish  that 
her  physician  might  visit  the  patient  and  give  her 
an  account  of  his  condition.  Since  that  time,  Sir 
W.  Jenner  has  followed  the  case  hour  by  hour,  in 
company  with  Dr.  Vintras  ;  informing  the  Queen 
directly  after  each  visit.  The  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Wales  have  not  shown  less  solicitude.  Their 
Royal  Highnesses  were  at  the  door  of  the  embassy 
making  inquiries  about  the  Comte  de  Jarnac  at  the 
very  moment  he  expired.  The  Queen  and  the 
Royal  Family  have  repeatedly  shown  their  sympa- 
thy and  their  esteem  for  the  Comte  de  Jarnac,  and 
the  public  has  followed  their  lead.  There  is  not  a 
public  man,  nor  a  member  of  London  society,  who 
has  not  in  these  last  days  left  his  name  at  the  em- 
bassy. A  note  that  I  received  from  Mr.  Disraeli 
showed  clearly  what  impression  the  sudden  an- 
nouncement of  the  count's  death  had  produced.  I 
had  sent  him  word  of  it,  and  he  returned  an  imme- 
diate reply.  "Your  dreadful  missive  reached  me  in 
Parliament.  The  grave  has  closed  upon  a  friend- 
ship of  forty  years.  Nothing  can  equal  the  grief  I 
feel."  It  does  not  belong  to  me  to  state  what 
France  has  lost  in  the  Comte  de  Jarnac ;  to  the 
testimonials  of  the  general  respect  in  which  he  was 
held  here  in  England  I  shall  therefore  add  only  an 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  ^^31 

expression  of  the  profound  and  sincere  regret  I  feel 
myself  for  the  death  of  the  eminent  and  kindly- 
leader  under  whose  orders  I  have  had  the  honor  to 
serve  for  a  time  unhappily  so  brief/' 

A  letter  that  I  received  the  following  day  from 
Lord  Derby,  contained  an  estimate  of  the  Comte  de 
Jarnac  which  deserves  to  be  quoted  :  **  We  have  lost 
in  the  Comte  de  Jarnac,  the  most  perfect  represen- 
tative of  France  in  England  that  it  was  possible  to 
conceive.  His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  two 
nations,  his  invariable  courtesy  and  finished  tact, 
gave  him  an  incomparable  aptitude  for  the  elevated 
post  that  he  occupied.  He  won  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  every  one  with  whom  he  had  to  deal. 
His  sudden  and  premature  death  will  be  felt  by 
everybody  as  a  national  loss.  .  .  .*' 

The  Comtesse  de  Jarnac  recognized  in  me  a  friend. 
She  bore  witness  of  it  when  she  designated  me  to 
the  Comte  de  Paris  as  the  person  to  whom  she 
wished  to  commit  the  custody  of  such  of  her  hus- 
band's papers  as  at  her  death  were  to  go  to  the 
Prince.  Her  intention  in  placing  them  in  my  keep- 
ing was  that  I  should  acquaint  myself  with  them  in 
order  that  I  might,  in  case  of  need,  make  such  use 
of  them  as  would  serve  the  interest  of  the  family  to 
which  the  Comte  de  Jarnac  had  devoted  his  life. 
These  papers  and  letters  extended  back  to  the  time 
of  his  entrance  into  public  life.  They  related  to 
matters  that  he  had  handled  for  the  State  and  to 
those  that  he  had  taken  charge  of  in  the  name  of 
the  Orleans  family. 


232  a  diploma  t  in  london,  [1875. 

The  Alarm  of  1875. 

I  took  charge  of  the  Embassy  on  the  22d  of 
March,  1875,  after  the  death  of  the  Comte  de  Jarnac. 
The  feeling  of  uncertainty  which  began  to  spread 
through  Europe,  and  in  especial  through  France, 
after  the  Perponcher  note  of  February  3d  on  the 
Duchesne  affair  and  the  pastoral  letters  of  the 
Belgian  bishops  had  not  yet  made  itself  felt  in 
England. 

One  word  about  the  Duchesne  matter.  I  had 
known  of  its  earlier  stages  when  I  was  at  Versailles, 
but  had  supposed  it  had  long  since  come  to  naught. 
One  Sunday  the  venerable  archbishop,  the  Cardinal 
Guibert,  came  to  my  ofifice  ^  much  excited,  and  told 
me  of  a  letter  he  had  just  received  from  Belgium. 
It  was  signed  Duchesne,  and  contained  an  offer  to 
assassinate  Prince  Bismarck.  The  letter  presented 
all  the  appearances  of  a  trick,  but  as  in  such  a 
matter  we  could  not  be  too  cautious,  I  promised 
the  cardinal  to  treat  the  matter  seriously,  and  the 
same  evening  I  sent  the  letter  to  Graf  von  Wes- 
dehlen,  the  Chargd  d' Affaires  of  Germany.  After 
some  days,  he  came  to  express  the  gratitude  of  his 
government  which  he  begged  me  to  transmit  to  the 
cardinal.  I  do  not  remember  what  he  told  me  was 
the  result  of  the  inquiries  which  had  been  made,  but 
my  present  impression  is  that  it  had  been  discovered 
there  was  no  foundation  for  the  affair  beyond  a 
tipsy  joke. 
1  M.  Gavard  was  then  chief  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  Due  de  Broglie. 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON,  233 

After  the  Perponcher  note  to  the  Belgian  govern- 
ment, came  the  note  to  the  Itahan  government  about 
the  insufficiency  of  the  law  respecting  "  guarantees/' 
the  interdiction  of  the  exportation  of  German  horses, 
and  lastly  a  menacing  article  to  the  Berlin  Post  of 
April  9th.  I  shall  not  concern  myself  with  the 
causes  which  produced  the  panic  that  spring  on  the 
Continent ;  I  shall  deal  with  the  consequences  of  it 
in  England  only.  On  the  8th  of  April,  without 
having  received  the  least  hint  from  the  ministry,  it 
occurred  to  me  in  the  course  of  a  conversation  with 
Lord  Derby  to  refer  to  the  indications  of  an  alarm- 
ing attitude  on  the  part  of  Prince  Bismarck.  I 
found  the  chief  of  the  Foreign  Office  quite  without 
anxiety  on  that  score.  I  sent  an  account  of  this 
first  conversation  to  the  Due  Decazes  in  a  private 
letter  written  at  the  Athenaeum  immediately  on  my 
departure  from  Downing  Street.  According  to  my 
custom  I  sent  to  the  ministry  by  despatch  the  sub- 
stance of  this  conversation.  Here  is,  according  to 
my  report  of  April  8th,  Lord  Derby's  conversation  : 

"  *  No  news,  good  news.*  I  see  nothing  on  the 
Continent  to  alarm  us  for  the  preservation  of  peace, 
I  repeat  what  I  said  to  you  a  year  ago ;  I  have  no 
anxiety  about  this  year.  I  confine  myself,  it  is 
true,  to  this  year;  but  in  the  present  state  of  Europe 
peace  even  for  that  short  period  means  a  great  deal. 
Of  the  two  notes  with  which  you  are  so  preoccupied, 
the  one  seems  to  have  disappeared — at  least  the 
Italian  government  denies  ever  having  received  it, 
the  other  will  prove  of  no  consequence.  It  was 
simply  a  threat  of  Bismarck's  to  his  adversaries  at 


234  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

home ;  he  wanted  to  make  them  believe  they  are 
vulnerable  to  him  on  every  side ;  he,  too,  felt  a  wish 
to  publish  an  encyclicaL  He  has  got  his  hands  full 
with  the  Catholic  Church.  In  order  to  understand 
events  in  Germany  one  must  consider  two  things : 
the  nation  is  aware,  since  its  success,  that  it  has 
alarmed  all  its  neighbors  and  is  pursued  by  the  idea 
that  they  are  preparing  to  combine ;  Germany  sees 
a  coalition  in  everything  and  wishes  to  conjure  it 
away.  On  the  other  hand  Bismarck's  temperament 
must  never  be  lost  sight  of;  he  has  become  more 
and  more  irritable ;  he  is  no  longer  master  of  his 
nerves.  He  is  credited  often  enough  nowadays 
with  calculations  and  combinations  when  he  is 
merely  yielding  to  an  outbreak  of  temper ;  such  for 
example  is  the  interdict  put  upon  the  exportation 
of  horses  :  a  measure  conceived  in  a  moment  of 
passion,  which  harms  nobody  but  the  German  pro- 
ducers. Don't  fancy  it  an  indication  of  extraordi- 
nary preparations  or  of  an  immediate  estabhshment 
of  the  German  army  on  a  war  basis.  .  .  ." 

Passing  finally  to  Emperor  William's  trip  to  Italy, 
Lord  Derby  said  :  '*  Considering  his  age  and  the 
state  of  his  health  it  is  easier  to  explain  why  he  has 
given  over  the  trip  than  why  he  ever  undertook  it." 

As  to  the  maintenance  of  peace  during  that  year, 
or  rather  during  that  parliamentary  session,  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  held  about  the  same  language  in 
conversation  with  me  on  the  eve  of  the  elections. 
In  effect  in  the  month  of  April  the  Tory  ministry  re- 
garded the  state  of  Europe  with  the  same  optimism 
and  quite  as  little   foresight  as  the   ministry   that 


1875.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  235 

preceded  it.  Meanwhile  the  "  press ''  began  to  be 
excited.  The  interview  at  Venice  between  the  Em- 
peror of  Austria  and  King  of  Italy,  the  professions 
of  friendship  exchanged  between  them,  the  manifest 
vexation  of  Germany,  and  Emperor  William's  aban- 
donment of  his  trip  to  Italy,  were  all  remarked  in 
London  by  the  few  who  at  that  time  took  an  espe- 
cial interest  in  foreign  politics. 

On  the  9th  Baron  Solvyns,  the  Belgian  minister, 
with  whom  (as  well  as  with  Baron  de  Beust,  Austrian 
Ambassador),  I  have  shared  this  campaign,  informed 
me  that  Lord  Derby  had  strongly  advised  his  gov- 
ernment, as  a  means  of  strengthening  its  position,  to 
consider  whether  something  could  not  be  done  for 
Prince  Bismarck  in  the  Duchesne  affair.  He  recog- 
nized for  his  part  the  inadequacy  of  the  Belgian  law 
which  does  not  protect  people  in  other  countries 
against  threats  of  death  emanating  from  Belgian 
territory.  By  the  loth  I  noted  a  general  alarm  in 
the  daily  and  weekly  papers.  The  TimeSy  Standardy 
Telegraph  and  the  Daily  News  vied  with  each  other 
in  the  vigor  of  their  expressions  of  reprobation  for 
the  policy  revealed  in  the  article  in  the  Berlin  Post, 
The  Economist  believed  that  the  blow  was  rather 
directed  against  Austria  and  Italy  than  against 
France.     This  idea  will  make  its  way. 

On  April  12th  there  was  a  fresh  inquiry  in  Parlia- 
ment. Although  it  came  from  an  Irish  member,  the 
Prime  Minister  thought  it  necessary  to  answer  it 
himself.  Mr.  Disraeli  said  that  the  note  addressed 
to  Belgium  was  only  a  friendly  remonstrance  and 
not  a  threat,  and  that  he  regarded  the  incident  as 


236  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875, 

closed.  He  finished,  however,  with  some  bravado 
about  the  independence  of  Belgium,  if  she  should 
ever  be  threatened. 

Hardly  had  Mr.  Disraeli  finished  with  his  peaceful 
assurances  on  the  subject  of  the  relations  between 
Germany  and  Belgium  when  the  report  was  spread 
that  a  third  note  had  been  sent  to  the  Cabinet  at 
Brussels.  Public  opinion,  following  the  newspapers, 
covered  Belgium  with  its  aegis;  and  I  never  doubted, 
for  my  part,  that  England,  whatever  its  government, 
would  not  allow  anybody  to  lay  hands  on  Belgium, 
So  far  as  France  was  concerned,  the  Times  was  at 
this  particular  juncture  arguing  that  our  inability 
to  hurl  back  Germany's  defiance  was  a  guaranty  of 
the  peace  of  Europe.  The  Standard  confined  itself 
to  giving  advice  impartially  to  statesmen  and  to 
nations  alike,  whoever  they  might  be,  that  were 
meditating  war,  not  to  count  too  absolutely  on 
England's  supposed  indifference. 

On  the  19th,  the  government  was  questioned  both 
in  the  House  of  Commons  by  an  Irishman,  and  in 
the  House  of  Lords  by  poor  Lord  Russell,  who 
hardly  counts  for  more  than  an  Irishman,  in  public 
opinion.  He  no  longer  knows  what  he  is  saying,  he 
can't  hear  anything  that  is  said  to  him  in  reply,  and 
keeps  on  talking  even  while  he  is  being  spoken  to. 
After  the  ministerial  explanations.  Lord  Granville, 
who  is  really  also  a  bit  deaf,  shouted  the  substance 
of  them  in  his  lordship's  ear.  The  House  waited 
patiently.  Such  scenes  (they  occur  often)  are  really 
pitiful ;  the  family  try  in  vain  to  avoid  them.  Lord 
Russell  has  his  things  printed,  when  he  cannot  speak 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  237 

— ^like  a  superannuated  magistrate  who  cannot  bring 
himself  to  quit  the  bench.  The  odd  thing  is  that 
no  serious  speaker  in  either  House  thrusts  these 
shadows  aside.  When  Lord  Russell  is  absolutely 
unable  to  come  to  Parliament,  Lord  Campbell  of 
Stratheden  speaks.  Nothing  gives  one  a  stranger 
idea  of  the  political  mind  of  this  House  than  to  see 
them  listening  patiently  to  the  words  escaping  from 
the  mouth  of  this  invalid,  bit  by  bit,  amidst  the 
most  painful  contortions.  One  of  my  neighbors 
called  them  "  minute  guns** ; — comparing  his  empty 
and  solemn  verbiage  to  the  blast  of  a  gun  in  an 
official  salute.  No  matter  who  it  may  be  that  asks 
a  question,  the  government  has  never  failed  to  profit 
by  the  occasion,  not  indeed  to  reply  to  it,  but  to 
give  such  explanations  as  it  may  think  desirable.  It 
was  after  all  clever  enough  to  have  the  inquiry  come 
from  a  member  whose  words  do  not  count :  the 
reply  was  less  difficult. 

The  two  questions,  or  at  least  the  two  replies, 
bore  on  the  Belgium  affair  only.  It  has  not  as  yet 
occurred  to  the  English  government  that  there  was 
anything  else  to  consider.  •    - 

In  the  House  of  Commons  Mr.  Disraeli  found 
himself  called  upon  to  explain  the  conduct  of  the 
cabinet  that  preceded  his.  He  spoke  of  a  "  strong 
representation**  addressed  in  February,  1874,  by 
Prince  Bismarck  to  Belgium  on  the  subject  of  the 
conspiracy  hatched  in  that  country  by  the  ultramon- 
taine  party.  He  did  not  conceal  the  fact  that  the 
German  Ambassador  had  asked  the  Queen*s  govern- 
ment to  support  this  representation  at  Brussels  and 


238  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1^75- 

that  he  had  been  politely  dismissed,  with  expressions 
of  confident  hope  that  Prince  Bismarck  would  not 
insist  on  the  Belgium  government's  overstepping  the 
limits,  within  which  the  government  of  a  Catholic 
country  endowed  with  free  institutions  must  confine 
itself.  The  Premier  added  that  no  communication 
of  the  same  nature  had  since  then  been  received  by 
the  Queen's  government. 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  as  well  as  one  could  un- 
derstand Lord  Russell,  the  Liberal  veteran,  offered 
himself  as  the  champion  rather  of  Prince  Bismarck 
against  poor  little  Belgium.  Lord  Derby  declared 
that  he  considered  the  third  and  last  communication 
from  Belgium  as  perfectly  friendly.  He  did  his  best 
to  put  a  damper  on  the  fire  of  public  opinion  and 
assured  the  House  that  the  conclusions  ^^  of  the  in- 
cident left  no  ground  of  anxiety  as  to  the  integrity 
and  independence  of  Belgium.'' 

The  next  day  Lord  Derby  assured  me  again  that 
he  saw  nothing  especially  threatening  in  the  Per- 
poncher  note ;  he  confessed,  however,  that  the  author 
had  so  wrapped  his  meaning  up  in  generalities  that 
he  (Derby)  could  not  tell  with  any  exactitude  what 
it  was  all  about. 

He  referred  again  to  the  advice  he  had  given  to 
Belgium  to  fill  any  gap  there  might  be  in  her  legis- 
lation in  the  matter  of  affording  protection  to  per- 
sons residing  beyond  her  limits.  I  profited  by  the 
occasion  to  ask  him  if  he  believed  that  English  law, 
as  it  stood,  covered  the  Duchesne  case,  as  Lord 
John  Russell  seemed  to  think.  Inasmuch  as  Prince 
Bismarck  seemed  to  wish   to  raise   a   question   of 


I87S-]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  239 

general  interest  apropos  of  the  incident  and  was 
disposed  according  to  all  appearances  to  address 
himself  to  other  governments,  I  felt  it  important  to 
know  if  the  English  considered  themselves  as  not 
involved  in  the  question.  Without  replying  to  my 
inquiry  Lord  Derby  observed  to  me  that  Germany 
voluntarily  offered  a  guaranty  of  good  faith,  since 
she  proposed  to  submit  her  own  legislation  to  revi- 
sion. I  could  not  help  pointing  out  to  him  that  it 
would  be  easier  to  have  recourse  to  the  Tribunals 
at  Brussels  than  to  those  of  Berlin.     He  agreed. 

Not  having  received  as  yet  my  instructions  from 
Paris,  I  did  not  dare  to  push  Lord  Derby  any 
further,  and  I  asked  the  Due  Decazes  whether  he 
thought  it  well  for  me  to  continue  to  draw  out  the 
cabinet  at  London.  Without  waiting  for  his  reply 
I  took  up  the  conversation  once  more  at  the  Foreign 
Office  on  the  28th  of  April  ;  I  began  by  admitting 
with  Lord  Derby,  that  the  Belgium  matter  was  in  a 
fair  way  of  settlement,  but  I  added  that  it  was  none 
the  less  important  to  know  the  purpose  of  these 
notes,  these  experiments  of  all  sorts,  newspaper 
articles,  knowingly  indiscreet  remarks  which  are 
spreading  alarm  through  Europe.  Whatever  their 
cause  might  be.  Lord  Derby  admitted  their  bad 
effect.  I  added  that  these  singular  measures  might 
well  be  intended  simply  to  put  one  on  the  wrong 
scent.  He  in  his  turn  spoke  of  the  armaments  Ger- 
many was  adding  with  such  haste.  To  my  question 
"  Why  these  armaments  were  being  pushed  **  he  re- 
plied, "  you  know  that  the  interview  at  Venice  caused 
much  discontent  at  Berlin ;  Prince  Bismargjc's  irrita- 


240  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

tion  was  much  noticed,  and  it  confirmed  the  opinion 
already  held  by  the  men  best  in  a  position  to  judge 
of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Europe  ;  they  think  that  the 
storm  which  sometimes  threatens  France,  and  some- 
times Belgium,  will  burst  at  last  over  Austria.  After 
having  excluded  Austria  from  the  German  Empire, 
Bismarck  now  reproached  her  for  contracting  alli- 
ances with  other  nations.  Meanwhile  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  immediate  war  ;  I  give  you  however  only 
an  opinion/'  The  conversation  then  turned  on  the 
German  army  which  Lord  Derby  did  not  believe 
proof  against  a  prolonged  war.  ^'  There  was  much 
discontent  among  the  landwehr^''^  he  said,  '*  at  the 
close  of  the  siege  of  Paris  ;  and  if  you  could  have 
held  out  for  some  time  longer,  there  would  have 
been  an  outbreak.''  After  that  he  spoke  of  the  fear 
of  a  coalition  which  seemed  to  haunt  Bismarck.  I 
replied  that  it  seemed  natural  he  should  fear  a  coali- 
tion. Following  his  train  of  thought,  he  added, 
that  Napoleon  I.  was  always  astonished  to  see  coali- 
tion after  coalition  formed  against  himself,  though 
he  never  ceased  to  provoke  them  by  threatening  or 
crushing  his  neighbors. 

I  reported  in  full  this  long  conversation,  which 
started  with  the  fears  that  the  conduct  of  Germany 
had  excited  in  all  Europe,  and  ended  in  recollections 
of  the  coalitions  which  had  resulted  in  the  fall  of  the 
first  Empire,  In  forwarding  it  to  Paris  I  took  care 
to  put  the  ministry  on  its  guard  against  any  pre- 
mature conclusions  about  the  designs  of  the  English 
Government.  The  report,  I  insisted,  was  significant 
^  Militia, 


i87S.]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON;  241 

only  as  indicating  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  of  the  British  government,  and  his  opinion 
that  neither  France  nor  Belgium  was  threatened,  but 
only  Austria.  Lord  Derby's  position  was  elsewhere 
developed  in  an  article  that  had  appeared  the  pre- 
ceding Saturday  in  the  Spectator,  under  the  title : 
Germany  and  Austria,  '^Germany,'*  said  the  Spec- 
tator, "knows  that  she  owes  in  some  measure  her 
prodigious  success  to  the  diversion  made  by  Italy  in 
1866,  and  to  the  incapacity  of  the  French  com- 
mander in  1870.  She  is  preoccupied  by  the  danger 
to  which  a  coalition  might  subject  her,  and  believes 
that  the  only  way  to  be  beforehand  with  this  peril 
is  to  develop  her  army  to  the  point  of  being  able  to 
defy  a  coalition.  Prince  Bismarck's  scheme  is  to 
profit  by  the  fears  inspired  by  France's  rapid  recov- 
ery ;  but  he  does  not  seriously  dread  aggression  on 
that  side,  so  long  as  France  remains  without  allies. 
If  he  should  overrun  France  to-day,  he  would  simply 
be  forming  another  Poland  on  Germany's  western 
frontier.  To  triumph  over  Russia,  or  to  take  per- 
manent possession  of  the  provinces  on  the  Baltic, 
would  demand  a  long  war  which  would  offer  to  France 
the  occasion  and  the  alliances  of  which  she  has  need. 
Austria  remains,  and  Prince  Bismarck  might,  by  a 
rapid  campaign,  win  back  into  the  Empire  ten  mil- 
lion Germans,  who  would  be  charmed  to  share  in  his 
success.  Germany  might  stretch  from  Hamburg  to 
Trieste  before  the  neighboring  powers  could  bring 
their  armies  into  play  ;  and  Germany  with  that  addi- 
tion would  have  no  further  coalition  to  fear.'* 

The  similarity  that  all  this  bears  to  Lord  Derby's 
16 


242  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

language  was  striking.  More  than  that,  the  consid- 
erations developed  in  the  article  are  far  from  being 
without  value  to-day  ;  they  were  sound  in  1875,  they 
are  not  less  so  in  1879.^  Prince  Bismarck  seems  to 
have  pursued  the  policy  these  ascribed  to  him,  ex- 
cepting only  that  he  has  abandoned  armed  occupa- 
tion and  employed  conciliation  in  its  stead. 

He  has  made  the  Emperor  of  Austria  enter  Ger- 
many and  accept  a  position  such  as  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenbourg  held  in  the  old  Confederation.  He 
was  assured  that  Austria  would  henceforth  hold 
Russia  in  check  with  the  connivance  of  England;  he 
had,  therefore,  no  further  coalition  to  fear. 

My  first  instructions  came  on  the  30th  of  April. 
They  consisted  in  a  series  of  extracts  from  the  cor- 
respondence of  our  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  ending 
with  the  strange  and  voluntary  admission  snatched 
from  Prince  Bismarck's  confidant,  M.  de  Radowitz. 
I  hastened  to  communicate  all  these  bits  to  Lord 
Derby,  without  comment.  I  knew  I  must  not  try  to 
coerce  him  by  argumicnts — that  the  best  way  was  to 
put  him  in  possession  of  facts,  simply,  and  let  him 
draw  his  own  conclusions. 

He  still  held  fast  to  his  former  opinion,  for  the 
time  being,  that  Austria  alone  was  threatened,  and 
that  the  danger  for  Austria  even  was  not  immediate. 
He  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  ammuni- 
tions of  war  that  the  Cabinet  of  Berlin  had  recently 
been  in  such  a  hurry  to  get  ready  had  come  precisely 
from  Austria.  When  he  insisted  on  the  salutary  in- 
fluence Russia  might  exercise  at  this  moment  at 
1  Jt  was  in  1879  that  M.  Gavard  wrote  thes?  notes. 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  243 

Berlin,  I  replied  :  ''  As  much  as  England.'*  In  the 
diplomatic  corps,  the  impression  that  Austria  was  in 
danger  spread  rapidly.  There  were  persons  who 
averred,  however,  that  it  was  Turkey  that  would  have 
to  pay  the  price  of  an  understanding  between  the 
three  powers.  Every  one  was  guessing,  and  guessing 
wrong. 

On  the  6th,  a  private  note  from  the  Due  Decazes 
contained  the  following  passage  :  "  Hohenlohe  came 
to  tell  me,  before  leaving  for  Munich,  that  Herr  Von 
Bulow  finds  Gontaut  very  optimistic,  and  that  the 
German  Government  is  far  from  being  entirely  con- 
vinced of  the  inoffensive  character  of  our  armaments." 
This  communication  convinced  me  that  the  moment 
had  come  to  try  every  means  to  induce  the  English 
Government  to  speak  out.  Strong  in  my  convictions, 
I  hastened  to  Lord  Derby,  and  spoke  to  him  with  an 
emotion  which  was  genuine.  I  believed  there  was 
immediate  danger ;  I  fancied  I  might  be  of  real  ser- 
vice to  my  country.  Lord  Derby  was  moved  (or  did 
I  only  imagine  it?)  and  came,  before  I  left,  to  share 
my  alarm.  I  give  his  words,  the  look  and  intonation 
with  which  he  accompanied  them  I  cannot  give. 

He  said  first  that  our  fears,  so  far  as  the  imme- 
diate future  was  concerned,  were  not  shared  by  Lord 
Odo  Russell.^  Lord  Odo,  indeed,  rather  gave  his 
Government  reason  to  suspect  that  what  Bismarck 
was  at  the  moment  aiming  at  was  not  so  much  a  war, 
but  a  war  scare.  Lord  Derby  persisted  in  believing 
that  if  the  Chancellor  wanted  the  war,  his  first  blow 
would  be  directed  at  Austria.  He  admitted,  how- 
?  Lord  Odo  Russell  was  Ambassador  at  Berlin  then. 


244  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

ever,  that  the  secret  purposes  of  Bismarck,  whose 
will  was  beyond  control,  were  by  no  means  plain,  and 
that  the  present  state  of  Europe  reminded  one  of  the 
days  when  her  fate  hung  on  the  will  of  the  First 
Napoleon.  This  justified  me  in  suggesting  :  *^  And 
suppose  the  first  blow  should  be  levelled  at  France  ?  '* 
'*  Such  an  act  of  aggression,*'  said  Lord  Derby, 
"  would  exite  universal  indignation  in  Europe,  and 
nowhere  more  strongly  than  in  England.  Germany 
herself  could  not  brave  such  an  outburst  of  public 
opinion.''  When  I  urged  him  to  be  explicit — to  say 
what  form  the  manifestation  of  England's  sympathy 
would  take  :  "  You  may  count  on  me,"  he  said,  '^  you 
may  rely  upon  it  that  the  Government  will  not  shirk 
its  duty.  I  give  you  all  the  assurances  that  a  minister 
in  a  Constitutional  Government  can  give."  This 
declaration  he  made  to  me  repeatedly  and  in  various 
forms.     The  last  words  are  literal. 

I  observed  to  Lord  Derby  that  there  are  events 
that  can  be  prevented  by  being  foreseen,  and  that  it 
was  time  England  should  declare  herself.  "'  Cer- 
tainly," he  said,  and  added  :  "  I  have  already  spoken 
to  Count  Munster.  I  told  him  that  we  did  not  take 
seriously  the  scare  they  were  trying  to  foster  in  Ger- 
many on  the  subject  of  the  armaments  in  France, 
that  everybody  knows  France's  present  attitude  is 
not  a  threatening  one,  that  all  this  uproar  looks  too 
much  like  a  pretext,  and  that  I  did  not  understand 
what  interest  his  government  could  have  in  keeping 
Europe  unsettled."  Then  I  spoke  of  the  meeting  of 
the  two  Emperors  at  Berlin.  Lord  Derby  assured 
me  that  he  founded  great  hopes  on  Emperor  Alex- 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  245 

ander's  influence.  "  In  especial/*  I  added,  *^  if  it  is 
supported  by  that  of  other  powers  who  are  not 
directly  interested  in  peace/*  Lord  Derby  made  it 
evident  to  me  that  he  understood  the  importance  of 
this  addition  and  promised  to  inform  me  of  whatever 
step  might  be  taken.  The  conversation  ended  in  a 
discussion  of  the  evil  Prince  Bismarck  might  be 
meditating  against  France  and  Europe.  I  made  a 
memorandum  of  all  Lord  Derby  had  said,  and  thanked 
him  for  his  friendliness  toward  France. 

In  the  account  of  this  conversation  I  sent  in  a 
private  letter  to  the  Due  Decazes  on  the  7th,  I  said  : 
"  It  would,  of  course,  be  a  mistake  to  regard  Lord 
Derby's  words  as  a  guarantee  of  effective  aid  in 
case  of  need  ;  but  they  are  at  least  assurances  such 
as  were  not  given  to  us  in  1870.  It  is  an  overture 
to  be  made  the  most  of  in  case  things  take  a  bad 
turn.'* 

My  impression  of  Lord  Derby's  attitude  was  con- 
firmed by  a  conversation  I  had  with  Count  Beust, 
in  which  he  spoke  only  of  our  just  anxiety,  and  not 
of  the  dangers  with  which  Austria  might  be  threat- 
ened. 

On  the  8th  appeared  a  long  leader  in  the  Times 
a  proposoi  the  correspondence  published  by  Blowitz, 
at  the  instance  of  the  Due  Decazes.  It  aimed  at 
dissipating  the  alarm  that  pubHcation  had  occa- 
sioned, A  little  more  and  it  would  have  thrown  the 
responsibility  on  us.  Its  language  resembled  that 
of  Count  Munster,  who  spouted  smoke  and  flame, 
denouncing  our  armaments,  and  affirming  that  dur- 
ing negotiations  for  peace,  Prince  Bismarck  would 


246  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

have  consented  to  reduce  the  indemnity  in  ex- 
change for  an  engagement  on  our  part  in  relation  to 
our  effective  military  and  naval  forces.  Cardinal 
Manning  communicated  to  me  a  mandate  that  he 
intended  to  issue  against  Germany,  and  an  appeal 
that  the  Catholic  clergy  of  England  were  to  address 
to  the  Catholics  of  the  world  against  the  persecu- 
tion of  which  the  church  is  the  object  in  Germany. 
I  confess  I  did  not  feel  hopeful  about  the  effect  this 
manifestation  would  produce  in  England. 

We  had  evidently  touched  the  point  where  the 
crisis  must,  for  good  or  evil,  be  faced,  and  the  even- 
ing of  the  9th,  which  was  Saturday,  I  went  to  Lord 
Derby's  reception  with  the  firm  intention  of 
eliciting  fresh  explanations.  He  saved  me  the 
trouble  of  making  the  attempt.  The  moment  he 
saw  me  he  came  forward ;  the  people  about  us  dis- 
creetly turned  aside.  Every  one  understood  the 
gravity  of  our  conversation,  above  all  when,  after 
some  minutes,  he  called  Lord  Lyons,  who  was  pres- 
ent at  the  reception,  in  order  to  repeat  before  him 
what  he  was  telling  me.  He  begged  me  to  state  to 
my  government  that  his  anxieties  for  the  moment 
were  at  an  end.  He  had  just  received  from  Lord  Odo 
Russell,  in  reply  to  his  last  instructions,  a  telegram 
which  left  no  room  for  doubt  that  the  danger  had 
been  averted.  He  added  that  he  had  not  been  sat- 
isfied with  this  assurance,  but  had  sent  a  telegram 
that  same  evening,  advising  the  most  energetic 
declarations  in  support  of  the  Russian  Emperor's 
peaceful  counsel.  He  did  not  endeavor  to  disguise 
the  fagt  that  Rqssifi's  action  had  been  rnore  effigg,. 


iS/S-l  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  247 

cious  than  that  of  his  own  government  in  this  crisis. 
He  wished,  however,  to  demonstrate  to  me  how  it 
could  not  but  be  so  ;  Russia  being  prepared  to  sup- 
port her  remonstrances  by  arms.  I  could  not  help 
replying  that  he  did  not  seem  to  me  to  attach  suffi- 
cient importance  to  the  English  navy,  which  could 
not  indeed  prevent  a  war  from  arising  but  could 
prevent  its  long  continuance.  Lord  Derby  was 
silent.  Presently,  however,  he  added  that  aggression 
against  France,  under  existing  circumstances  would 
have  excited  an  outburst  of  moral  indignation 
throughout  the  whole  world  that  would  have  checked 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  himself.  I  made  the 
observation  that  up  to  the  present  speaking  obstacles 
merely  moral  could  scarcely  be  said  to  have  sufficed 
to  block  Prince  Bismarck.  **I  expressed  myself 
badly,''  he  replied  ;  *^  what  I  meant  was  that  there 
spreads  abroad  now  and  then  an  universal  sentiment 
of  uneasiness ;  every  one  feels  that  he  is  in  danger, 
and  the  result  is  such  a  coalition  as  that  to  which 
Napoleon  I.,  in  spite  of  his  genius,  was  forced  to 
succumb."  That  evening,  at  the  Foreign  office,  I 
was  "  cock  of  the  walk  ;  '*  everybody  had  divined  the 
topic  and  drift  of  our  conversation  there  in  public. 
Two  days  afterwards,  Monday  the  nth,  Lord 
Derby  gave  me  a  copy  of  a  telegram  he  had  received 
from  Berlin.  The  substance  of  it  was  as  follows: 
Prince  Bismarck  thanks  you  for  your  kind  services, 
but  says  they  are  unnecessary,  and  that  he  has  not 
dreamed  of  disturbing  the  peace.  **  This  is  the 
reply,"  said  Lord  Derby,  **  to  the  instructions  I  sent 
on  Saturday  to  Lord  Odo,  that  he  should  back  up 


248  A  DIPLOMAT  IN'  LONDON,  [1875. 

Russia.  I  know  that  Emperor  Alexander's  influ- 
ence has  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  same  side  as 
our  own,  and  that  he  had  decided  to  speak  energet- 
ically if  it  should  be  necessary.  All  fear  of  conflict, 
however,  is  for  the  present  at  an  end,  the  incident 
is  closed.  I  do  not  believe,  to  say  the  truth,  that 
Prince  Bismarck  dreamed  really  of  attempting  such 
a  war ;  he  wanted  to  feel  public  opinion  simply — 
aiid  he  has  done  it  I  "  Lord  Derby  pronounced  the 
last  words  with  marked  emphasis. 

Some  hours  later  the  same  explanations  were 
given  in  Parliament,  amidst  ^*  cheers.'*  The  House 
testified  by  its  evident  satisfaction  (and  so  also  did 
th.e  Press)  the  gravity  of  its  fears.  The  general  dis- 
approval excited  by  the  manoeuvres  of  Prince  Bis- 
marck was  not  less  marked  than  the  general  alarm. 
I  closed  my  report  for  May  nth  with  the  reflection, 
which  was  just  and  not  immoderate,  that :  '^  During 
this  last  week  we  have  not  run  more  risks  than  we 
had  the  week  before,  but  England  had  not  taken 
account  until  now  of  the  danger  which  threatened 
France  and  Europe.  The  revelation  of  this  crisis, 
and  the  intimate  communications  it  has  occasioned 
between  the  two  governments  will  leave  some  trace, 
I   hope,  in  the  minds  of  the  Cabinet." 

The  next  day,  the  12th,  confirmation  of  the  good 
news  reached  me  from  every  side.  In  the  first  place. 
Lord  Derby  expressly  sent  for  me  to  come  to  see 
him.  After  telling  me  that  the  most  favorable  in- 
formation on  the  score  of  peace  was  coming  in  from 
all  quarters,  he  took  on  a  diplomatic  air  which  was 
not  in  the  least  becoming,  to  reveal  to  me  in  great 


i$75]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  ^49 

confidence,  that  he  had  obtained  no  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  Austria,  and  that  it  had  proved  to  be 
beyond  his  power,  frightened  as  Austria  was  on 
her  own  account,  to  make  her  speak  to  BerHn. 

It  was  Count  Schouvaloff's  turn  next.  He  had 
arrived  two  days  before  on  his  way  to  BerHn.  He 
commenced  by  handing  me  a  telegram  from  Emperor 
Alexander,  sent  the  same  day,  at  the  moment  of  his 
departure  from  Berlin.  He  said  to  his  Ambassador, 
in  express  terms,  that  he  took  his  leave  completely 
assured  of  the  maintenance  of  peace.  Here,  accord- 
ing to  my  despatch  for  the  12th  of  May,  is  what 
Count  SchouvalofT  said  in  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion. He  thought  all  danger  of  war  for  the  present 
at  an  end,  but  he  did  not  try  to  conceal  from  me 
that  it  might  well  make  its  appearance  again  at  al- 
most any  moment.  He  spoke  then  of  the  cause  of 
this  recurrent  menace,  and  in  what  direction  we 
should  look  for  safety.  **  The  danger,**  he  said, 
"  lies  in  Bismarck^s  fixed  idea,  that  France  is  dis- 
posed to  attack  Germany,  and  unhappily  (which  is 
more  unfortunate),  the  idea  is  shared  by  Von 
Moltke.  He  believes  you  will  be  ready  by  1876, 
and  that  the  moment  will  be  so  much  more  favorable 
for  you  because  you  will  still  have  a  class  of  older 
soldiers  who  have  already  seen  service.  The 
Chancellor  beHeves  you  will  wait  till  1877  ;  but  both 
he  and  Von  Moltke  agree  to  anticipate  you.  They 
pretend  that  you  are  the  aggressors  according  to 
this  theory,  which  is  not  new  in  their  mouths  that 
the  real  aggressors  are  not  those  who  make  the 
attack,  but  those  who  make  the  attack  necessary ; 


250  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

and  they  propose,  as  the  result  of  a  fresh  campaign, 
an  overwhelming  indemnity  and  a  prolonged  oc- 
cupation. .  .  .  The  **  guarantee  for  peace  **  is  that 
Russia  does  not  want  war.  She  is  opposed  to  an 
aggression  on  either  side.  You  know  what  the 
Emperor  said  to  General  Le  Flo.  I  was  commanded 
to  repeat  it  in  Berlin.  I  saw  the  old  Emperor  who 
seemed  much  astonished  at  our  anxieties.  He  really 
did  not  believe  the  war  imminent,  but  he  is  the  only 
one  in  Berlin  who  was  so  ill-informed.  It  was  not 
difficult  to  bring  him  to  the  point  we  wished  when 
once  he  perceived  how  matters  stood.  As  for  Bis- 
marck he  knows  that  he  can  neither  attack  Russia 
because  of  you,  nor  attack  you  if  Russia  opposes 
him.  Therefore  I  consider  peace  as  assured,  in  spite 
.  of  the  alarms  that  may  come  up,  for  the  reason  that 
Russia  does  not  want  war,  and  that  such  an  attitude 
on  her  part  is  not  a  Platonic  one.**  Then  followed 
an  examination  of  the  relative  force  of  the  respective 
powers,  and  of  the  straits  in  which  Germany  would 
find  herself,  if  she  endeavored  to  act  either  against 
Russia  or  without  her  help,  or  not  at  least  without 
her  kindly  neutrality,  as  in  the  last  war.  He  then 
spoke  to  me  of  revenge.  He  finds  it  natural  that 
the  desire  to  recover  our  lost  provinces  should  lie  at 
the  bottom  of  every  French  heart,  but  he  does  not 
believe  we  shall  be  able  to  hasten  it.  He  believes 
that  we  ought  to  wait  till  the  occasion  offers  itself 
in  some  European  complication.  It  was  thus  that 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  was  annulled  (in  1871,  after  fifteen 
years  waiting),  by  Russia  without  striking  a  blow. 
Count  Schouvaloff  then    brought  the   conversation 


18; S-]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  251 

back  to  Belgium  to  tell  me  that  the  opinion  generally 
current  in  Berlin,  and  shared  by  men  in  a  position  to 
know,  was  that  Bismarck  had  conceived  the  notion 
of  bringing  about  a  state  of  things  which  would 
allow  him  to  offer  Belgium  to  France  in  the  hope  of 
satisfying  our  rancor  at  that  price.  But  he  added 
that  he  had  explained  matters  to  Bismarck,  who  had 
disavowed  the  intentions  that  were  attributed  to  him. 

I  replied  to  Count  Schouvaloff  that  one  could  not 
attribute  to  a  politician  like  Prince  Bismarck  motive's 
other  than  serious,  and  that  his  conduct  in  regard  to 
Belgium  seemed  to  me  inexplicable.  The  Russian 
Ambassador  said,  that  since  we  no  longer  understood 
Prince  Bismarck,  we  had  better  look  for  the  explana- 
tion of  his  conduct  or  of  his  purposes  in  the  over- 
excited condition  of  his  nerves,  or  in  the  nightmares 
that  haunted  him  on  restless  nights.  .  .  .  On  send- 
ing an  account  of  this  to  the  minister  I  reminded 
him  that  my  interlocutor's  speech  was  commonly  as 
daring  as  it  was  abundant — that  he  affected  to  touch 
without  reserve  on  the  most  delicate  subjects,  and 
that  I  could  not  be  certain  of  anything  about  him 
except  of  his  desire  to  see  me  fail  in  my  promised 
discretion. 

On  the  14th,  Lord  Derby  informed  me  that  he 
was  on  his  way  to  Knowsley  ^  for  ten  days,  and  ob- 
served that  his  departure  testified  to  his  feeling  of 
security,  and  asked  me  to  keep  him  informed  of  any- 
thing that  might  occur  during  his  absence.  "  You 
know,"  said  he,  **that  at  Berlin  no  one  wishes  to 
confess  ever  having  even  thought  of  war.  Prince 
1  Lord  Derby's  country  place  in  Lancashire. 


2S2  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

Bismarck  blames  it  all  on  Von  Moltke,  in  which  he 
is  perhaps  not  wrong ;  but,  however  true  it  may  be, 
as  he  affirms,  that  he  never  thought  of  war  himself, 
he  has  in  any  event  talked  a  great  deal.  .  .  . 

This  is  the  way  I  ended  my  despatch  for  that  day : 
**  Perhaps  it  would  be  advisable,  the  present  crisis 
(which  will  doubtless  be  followed  by  others)  being 
at  an  end,  to  ascertain  where  we  stand  and  precisely 
at  what  point  we  should  wish  to  begin  our  confiden- 
tial communications  with  the  English  government  in 
case  the  danger  at  present  conjured  away  should 
reappear.  No  doubt  we  have  escaped  war  this  once 
because  Russia  refused  to  act  in  complicity  with 
Germany ;  but  it  is  no  less  certain  that  England  has 
spoken,  at  Berlin  and  elsewhere,  in  favor  of  peace. 
.  .  .  (the  Queen's  letter  to  Emperor  William).  I 
am  confident  that  it  is  not  alone  to  me  that  Lord 
Derby  has  given  reason  to  suspect  the  coming  of  one 
of  those  European  coalitions  that  issue  from  time  to 
time  out  of  the  common  danger,  and  that  triumph 
over  Empires  supported  by  genius  even.  In  any 
event,  I  believe  that  it  is  greatly  to  our  interest  to 
take  account  of  what  England  has  done  for  the  main- 
tenance of  peace ;  we  should  perhaps  even  do  well 
to  encourage  her  by  expressing  our  recognition  of 
the  course  she  has  pursued.  The  cabinet  has  showed 
itself  very  sensible  of  the  notices  in  the  press,  on  its 
firm  attitude  in  this  affair.  My  colleagues  in  the 
diplomatic  corps  have  echoed  them  too  in  their  con- 
versations. It  would  be  well  if  the  French  press 
would  not  forget  to  mention  England's  share  in  the 
results  obtained.'' 


i87S.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  253 

The  Due  Decazes,  in  a  long  letter  dated  the  14th 
and  which  did  not  reach  me  till  late,  replied  to  the 
wish  I  had  expressed.  It  contained  words  of  thanks 
for  Lord  Derby  and  also  for  Mr.  Delane  of  the  Times, 
whom  I  had  also  recommended  to  his  gratitude. 
He  charged  me  to  tell  Lord  Derby  with  what  senti- 
ments of  gratitude  we  had  welcomed  the  news  of  his 
intervention,  etc.,  etc. 

I  replied  the  same  day.  May  iSth:  *' I  am  en- 
chanted with  the  messages  you  have  authorized  me 
to  deliver  to  Lord  Derby  in  your  name.  They  are 
all  that  could  be  desired.  I  shall  send  him,  in  the 
country,  an  extract  of  your  letter  which  says  so 
happily  and  justly  all  that  is  necessary.  Are  not 
the  deceptive  promises  you  speak  of  essentially  con- 
tained in  the  gossip  about  Belgium  Count  Schouvaloff 
took  the  trouble  to  collect  at  Berlin  ?  I  replied,  you 
know,  that  I  could  not  attribute  other  than  serious 
purposes  to  Prince  Bismarck.  I  am  very  much  on 
my  guard  with  this  brilliant  talker — he  does  not  in- 
spire confidence  in  any  one  here.  That  is  in  especial 
the  opinion  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge.  Here  is 
what  the  Duke  said  to  me  day  before  yesterday : 
*  What  a  week  we  have  just  been  through  !  It  is  said 
that  things  are  settled,  and  that  Russia  has  preserved 
the  peace  of  Europe.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  any- 
thing is  settled :  it  will  all  begin  again  at  the  first 
opportunity.  I  no  more  count  on  Russia  than  I  do 
on  the  beautiful  speeches  of  her  ambassador.'  *  Let 
me  at  least  count  on  England,*  I  said.  He  ex- 
claimed :  *  What  can  I  say  to  you  of  England.  The 
Tories   are  in    power,  the    danger   is  flagrant,    the 


^54  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1875. 

people  realize  it,  and  would  refuse  us  money  for  an 
army/  " 

Lord  Derby  answered  me  by  private  letter  dated 
at  Knowsley  the  17th.  ".  .  .  .  assure  the  Due 
Decazes  that  it  is  for  me,  and  for  the  government  of 
which  I  am  a  member,  a  double  pleasure  to  have 
done  what  was  in  our  power  for  the  maintenance  of 
peace  in  Europe  and  to  have  done  it  for  and  in  con- 
cert with  the  French  nation.  .  .  .  We  shall  have  to 
take  precautions  and  to  be  prudent  on  all  sides  to 
avoid  a  renewal  of  the  dangers  from  which  we  have 
escaped.  But  personally  I  do  not  admit  the  pre- 
tended necessity  of  a  European  war.  I  think  (this 
is  my  personal  opinion)  that  very  few  wars  have  been 
necessary  and  very  few  just.  .  .  .*' 

This  letter  shows  that  Lord  Derby  believed  he 
deserved  the  thanks  that  I  had  sent  him.  We  shall 
see  the  whole  Cabinet  (after  the  event)  banking  on 
the  gratitude  due  them  for  what  he  has  done. 

This  incident,  which  began  near  the  middle  of 
April  and  which  reached  a  crisis  during  the  first  week 
of  May,  was  at  last  closed.  It  is  interesting,  how- 
ever, to  consider  the  consequences  of  it.  Every  one 
was  looking  at  it  and  using  it  from  his  own  point  of 
view.  Count  Schouvaloff  was  pleased  that  it  had  all 
happened;  it  had  shown  England  and  Russia  what 
their  standing  together  could  do.  He  added  that 
England  and  Russia's  uniting  together  in  support 
of  France  had  accomplished  the  result  which  was 
the  object  of  his  mission  to  England,  the  bringing 
of  the  two  governments  closer  together.  He  dis- 
avowed or  disowned  (it  is  neither  the  first  nor  the 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  255 

last  time)  the  famous  testament  of  Peter  the  Great. 
He  protested  that  his  government  has  no  other  ob- 
ject nor  interest  in  the  Orient  than  to  prevent  the 
establishment  at  Constantinople  of  a  great  power 
such  as  might  embarrass  or  threaten  Russia.  "  Who,'* 
continued  he,  **  could  better  fill  this  programme  than 
the  Porte?'* 

After  the  event  I  was  anxious  to  resume  with  Lord 
Derby  the  exchange  of  confidences,  and  to  discover 
how  far  he  might  be  disposed  to  go  in  return  for  my 
demonstrations  of  gratitude. 

He  began  in  very  much  the  same  tone  as  in  his 
letters,  and  as  he  was  going  on  with  his  usual  scep- 
ticism about  the  inefficiency  of  intermediation  in 
general,  I  checked  him  and  asked  him  to  make  a 
distinction  between  an  impartial  intermediation  be- 
tween two  powers  who  are  discussing  a  doubtful 
point  and  an  intermediation  inspired  by  a  profound 
feeling  that  one  of  the  parties  is  in  the  right  and  a 
profound  disapproval  of  the  threats  uttered  by  its 
antagonist.  I  observed  that  such  an  intermediation 
engaged  the  intervening  powers  too  deeply  not  to 
be  of  consequence  in  some  way  or  other.  Lord 
Derby  did  not  deny  it.  The  review  of  the  situation 
led  him  to  speak  energetically,  ct  propos  of  Belgium, 
against  any  country's  attempting  to  shackle  liberty 
of  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  any  other 
country.  He  seemed  satisfied  with  the  contrast  I 
drew,  in  closing,  between  the  attitude  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  public  opinion  under  the  Liberal 
Ministry  and  under  the  Conservative  Cabinet  since 
the  close  of  the  war ;    On  the  one  hand  public  opin-* 


256  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

ion  hesitating,  and  the  Government  extreme  in  its 
reserve ;  on  the  other,  the  movement  which  has 
swept  away  public  opinion  in  these  last  days,  and  the 
encouragement  and  the  support  we  have  found  in 
the  Tory  Cabinet.  Lord  Derby  seemed  to  relish 
the  compliment.  Subsequent  events  prevented  him 
from  forgetting  it,  and  one  may  see  (in  the  course  of 
these  notes)  how,  as  time  went  on,  he  came,  in  1875, 
to  extend  rather  than  to  diminish  the  scope  of  his 
intervention  in  continental  affairs.  One  may  see  to 
what  use  he  put  my  testimony,  to  justify  himself 
against  the  reproach  of  indecision,  of  pusillanimity, 
of  inaction,  with  which  his  adversaries  overwhelmed 
him  when  he  went  out  of  the  Cabinet, 

On  the  evening  of  May  29th,  a  question  of  Lord 
Russell's,  quite  as  unintelligible  as  any  of  its  prede- 
cessors, gave  Lord  Derby  an  occasion  to  produce 
before  the  public,  information  which  had  been  re- 
ceived and  kept  secret  by  the  Cabinet. 

Here  are  my  comments,  the  next  day,  on  the  in- 
terview, of  which  I  had  given  an  account  that  even- 
ing by  telegram  :  *'  If  the  declarations  of  Lord 
Derby  revealed  to  us  nothing  that  we  did  not  know 
before,  they  at  least  constitute  an  avowal  in  public 
of  much  that  previously  we  were  not  in  a  position 
to  affirm.  For  the  future  nobody  can  deny  the 
existence  of  the  danger,  which  the  Times  did  not 
exaggerate  in  the  correspondence  from  Paris,  that 
created  so  much  excitement ;  nobody  can  deny  the 
existence  of  the  menaces  which  the  German  Am- 
bassador echoed  in  London.  On  the  other  hand, 
England's  feeling  about  the  projected  act  of  aggres- 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  257 

sion,  her  conviction  respecting  the  purely  defensive 
character  of  our  armaments,  her  intervention  with 
the  power  which  had  provoked  the  alarm  in  Europe, 
the  initiative  that  the  London  Cabinet  took  in  rela- 
tion to  Russia,  her  making  common  cause  with  that 
Government,  are  at  length  made  certain.  Also  the 
dangers  of  the  future  are  equally  foretold.  The  in- 
tention of  the  English  Government  to  remain  no 
longer  an  indifferent  spectator  in  continental  affairs 
is  evident  from  Lord  Derby^s  last  words,  which  were 
received  with  unanimous  approval.  ...  I  consider 
the  publicity  which  he  has  given  to  his  convictions 
and  to  the  conduct  of  the  Cabinet  at  London  of 
serious  importance.  Trivial  causes,  these  past  weeks, 
have  been  producing  great  effects.  When  Lord 
Derby  first  admitted  that  he  was  becoming  anxious, 
but  affirmed  that  the  object  of  Germany's  hostile 
preparations  was  at  least  not  France,  he  was  far 
from  anticipating  the  steps  Lord  Odo  has  had  to 
take  in  co-operation  with  Russia. 

Bismarck's  thanks  (which  did  not  sufficiently  hide 
a  tone  of  irony)  provoked  a  fine  and  sarcastic  retort 
from  Mr.  Disraeli,  when  he  was  questioned  on  the 
subject  of  Count  Munster's  speech  at  the  National 
Club,  Circumstances  have  lent  this  speech,  which 
in  itself  was  nothing  but  a  piece  of  stupidity,  the 
proportions  of  a  serious  incident.  The  reverberation 
of  Lord  Derby's  words  will  help  rouse  public  opinion 
and  magnify  afterwards  the  importance  of  this  first 
step  of  England's  in  favor  of  justice  and  peace. 

After  the  danger  had  passed,  everybody  grew 
bolder — in  which  of  course  I  saw  no  harm. 
17 


258  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

Neither  did  I  think  it  useful  to  investigate  the 
reason  for  the  unanimous  approval  meted  out  to 
Lord  Derby's  language.  If  the  defence  of  the 
European  equilibrium  possessed  its  serious  partisans 
on  the  benches  where,  what  is  left  of,  English  Tory- 
ism sits,  no  doubt  the  cheers  of  the  partisans  of 
*  peace  at  any  price  '  swelled  their  applause.  The 
radicals  cheered  too — cheered  the  cessation  of  a 
peril — the  termination  of  the  affair.  It  might  have 
terminated  as  in  187 1  by  a  second  amputation  of 
France,  and  they  would  still  have  cheered. 

The  danger  passed,  Lord  Derby  became  more  and 
more  expansive.  He  said  to  me  on  June  4th  :  '*  I 
really  believe  that  our  intervention  contributed  to 
the  maintenance  of  peace,  and  I  also  believe,  what- 
ever may  be  said  now,  that  the  danger  was  great.'' 
I  questioned  him  about  what  guarantee  we  pos- 
sessed for  the  future  against  the  recurrence  of 
similar  dangers.  *'  The  Old  Emperor,"  he  said, 
"  does  not  want  war,  but  we  have  seen  that  he  is 
not  kept  informed  of  what  goes  on  about  him. 
Prince  Bismarck  does  want  war,  and  is  anxious  it 
should  come  off  during  Emperor  William's  life. 
The  Crown  Prince  is  a  just  man,  not  at  all  belli- 
cose, but  he  is  pursued  by  the  idea  that  it  is 
necessary  to  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  German 
unity  by  reducing  to  subjection  to  the  Empire  the 
states  which  still  retain  a  semblance  of  autonomy, 
and  he  does  not  believe  that  that  can  be  done  except 
by  a  foreign  war.  For  the  present,  our  main  lookout 
must  be  to  keep  the  old  Emperor  from  being  cir- 
cumvented.    England  posses3^3  m^ans    of   letting 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON,  259 

him  know  the  truth,  and,  as  you  know,  she  has  used 
them.  As  for  the  Crown  Prince,  the  matter  is  more 
difficult,  since,  notwithstanding  his  antipathy  to  war, 
he  agrees  with  Bismarck.  England  has  stood  in  this 
last  crisis  with  Russia  and  also  with  Italy.  It  is 
probable  that  we  should  continue  to  stand  with 
Russia  as  long  as  Alexander  lives.  He  aspires  to 
the  role  of  peacemaker  in  Europe  ;  he  does  not 
dream  of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople.  We 
must  believe  that  his  moderation  will  suffice  to 
overbear  both  the  ambition  of  the  Russian  people 
and  the  spirit  of  perfidious  intrigue  abroad  ; — but 
who  will  come  after  him  !  Lord  Derby  confirmed 
me  in  my  belief  that  Austria  had  done  nothing. 
Was  it  from  pure  timidity,  or  from  a  secret  hope 
of  coming  to  some  better  understanding  with  Ger- 
many ? 

I  had  been  especially  careful  not  to  hint  at  the 
responsibilities  that  England's  honorable  conduct 
might  involve  her  in,  but  the  newspapers  were  not 
so  reserved.  Th^Standard,  Post,  Pall  Mall  Gazette^ 
Fortnightly^  Spectator  and  some  radical  organs,  put 
the  question  squarely,  and  the  Spectator  solved  it 
by  saying:  "  It  is  England's  duty  for  the  future  to 
stand  on  guard  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power  on 
the  Continent,  and  on  guard  in  uniform,  not  in  citi- 
zens' clothes.'* 

My  conversations  with  Lord  Derby  continued  on 
this  friendly  footing  till  the  arrival  of  the  new  Am- 
bassador, the  Marquis  d'Harcourt  (June  25th),  put  an 
end  to  my  administration.  The  intimacy  which  had 
established  itself  between    the    First  Secretary    of 


26o  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1875. 

State  and  me,  during  this  crisis,  survived  the  Mar- 
quises arrival ;  it  survived  even  his  term  of  office.  I 
know  that  I  made  great  progress  in  Lord  Derby's 
confidence  by  not  trying  to  see  Mr.  DisraeH  during 
the  crisis.  He  was  pleased  that  I  had  trusted  the 
affair  to  him  and  had  spared  him  the  difficulty  of 
having  to  agree  with  the  Premier  on  what  they 
should  say.  I  was  advised  to  act  thus  and  the  issue 
proved  that  the  advice  was  good. 

The  Due  Decazes  wrote  me  the  following  letter : 

"  June  24.  My  uncle  leaves  to-morrow  by  way  of 
Boulogne.  I  make  a  point  of  announcing  it  to  you. 
I  take  this  occasion  to  tell  you  how  much  we  have 
appreciated  the  wisdom,  the  prudence,  the  efficiency 
of  your  administration. 

**  You  more  than  any  one  else  had  deplored  Eng- 
land's long  silence  in  continental  affairs  ;  it  was  right 
that  you  should  assist  at  her  glorious  awakening ; 
and  indeed  you  had  in  a  sense  a  hand  in  it.'* 

Bittacte  trom  tbe  CorreeponDence^ 

London,  April  7,  1875. 

What  struck  me  most  in  my  expedition  ^  was  the 
waving  of  the  handkerchiefs  from  the  windows  as 
long  as  the  Prince  of  Wales's  train  remained  in  sight, 
and  the  cheers  from  every  one  physically  capable  of 
a  cheer.  We  arrived  at  Chatham  in  the  rain,  with 
nothing  but  umbrellas  to  shelter  Bylandt's  and  my 

1  M.  Gavard  had  been  invited  to  Chatham  to  be  present  at  the 
launching  of  a  vessel. 


i87S-]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON  261 

finery.  We  had  to  walk  four  kilometres  through 
the  crowd,  in  the  mud,  our  swords  under  our  arms 
and  gold-braided  pantaloons  turned  up  at  bottom. 
We  were  "  guyed "  at  by  a  double  row  of  thirty 
thousand  people,  but  the  most  of  it  fell  to  our  col- 
league, the  Shah*s  share.  After  this  little  pedestrian 
Odyssey  we  arrived  at  last  at  ** Stand  A;**  the 
threshold  crossed  we  became  princes  once  more. 
At  first  I  did  not  understand  what  the  great  wall 
was  that  we  were  lining  up  against ;  on  reflection  I 
perceived  it  was  the  keel  of  the  *^  Alexandra." 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  cannon  boomed  ;  the 
princes  and  princesses  arrived.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  said  a  prayer ;  but  the  tide  was  not  full, 
and  even  their  Royal  Highnesses  must  wait.  At 
last  the  "  Godmother  '*  ^  pressed  a  spring  and  a 
bottle  of  champagne  covered  with  flowers  was 
broken  over  the  prow.  Heavy  blows  resounded 
from  right  to  left,  almost  like  so  many  explosions ; 
it  was  the  sound  of  the  supports  giving  way  under 
the  hammer.  The  mass  began  imperceptibly  to 
move  ;  smoke  rose  behind  her ;  the  explosions  swelled 
a  frightful  fusilade  :  there  was  no  further  need  to 
try  and  draw  the  spikes — they  broke  like  so  many 
matches  under  the  moving  weight.  Finally  she 
went  with  a  rush.  The  view  opened  out  and 
presently  the  "  Alexandra  '*  was  floating  tranquilly 
three  hundred  metres  from  the  stocks.  There  were 
cheers  and  booming  cannon,  and  a  solemn  parade 
(in  the  mud)  between  a  double  row  of  sailors  and 
volunteers  toward  the  Admiralty.  We  arrived  at 
1  The  Princess  of  Wales. 


262  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-,  [1875, 

last,  escorting  the  ladies,  at  a  handsome  red  and 
white  tent  where  lunch  was  served  ;  there  was  not 
too  much  wind  blowing  and  we  had  music,  toasts, 
and  a  speech  from  the  Prince.  After  lunch  we 
smoked  ;  the  Prince  paid  me  some  agreeable  com- 
pliments. We  were  offered  a  place  for  the  return 
trip  in  the  Royal  train :  there  was  no  time  to  be 
lost,  so  we  hastened  madly  through  the  crowd  and 
mud.  Bylandt,  Ranses  and  I  arrived  a  good  first. 
Schenk  same  too  late ;  like  a  true  "  Yankee,**  he 
wanted  to  get  on  the  moving  train  ;  but  the  guard 
pulled  him  away  from  the  door.  He  found  Musu- 
rus,  the  Greek,  and  the  other  wastes  and  strays  of 
the  Diplomatic  corps,  to  console  himself  with. 

London,  April  22,  1875. 

Yesterday  at  a  dinner  at  the  "  Foreign  Office  **  I 
sat  at  Lord  Derby's  right,  near  the  Duke  of 
Cleveland,  who  is  not  exactly  impecunious,  and  next 
to  the  Marchioness  of  Exeter,  who  told  me  that  she 
possesses  the  most  beautiful  country  house  in 
England,  and  to  the  Countess  of  Galloway,  who  has 
immense  estates  In  Scotland  and  a  castle  overlook- 
ing the  sea  from  three  sides.  Opposite  me  sat  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  has  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  a  year ;  a  little  farther  on  was  Lord 
Ellesmere,  successor  of  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater, 
v/ho  owns  four  forgotten  Raphaels  in  an  aban- 
doned town  house.  Mile.  Meyer  de  Rothschild 
was  also  there ;  she  has  more  millions  to  her  dowry 
than  I  have  pence  in  my  pocket,  and  last  of  all, 
plain  Mr.  Disraeli,  the  Prirne  Minister,     I  shall  not 


1875]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  263 

speak  of  the  diamonds  that  sparkled  in  the  lights 
and  were  reflected  in  the  silver  service.  A  rumbling 
military  band  filled  the  gaps  in  the  conversation. 
I  forgot  to  say  that  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  entered 
with  "  God  Save  the  Queen.'*  By  the  way,  I  asked 
my  neighbor  about  Lord  Bedford's  fortune  :  it  is 
more  than  300,000  pounds  a  year — that  is  7,500,000 
francs ;  and  Lord  Derby  has  only  a  little  less,  be- 
tween 200,000  and  300,000  pounds  a  year. 

London,  April  26,  1875. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  Baillie  Cochrane.  .  .  .  We  talked 
of  this  scandalous  mission  of  the  two  revivalists, 
Moody  and  Sankey,  two  genuine  **  Yankees".  The 
one  sings  and  sells  organs  and  music  ;  the  other 
converts  sinners,  male  and  female  !  After  the  meet- 
ing, they  hold  consultations  without  music.  The 
ordinary  Conference-Hall  is  no  longer  large  enough. 
It  is  in  the  Opera-House  that  they  meet  now  in  the 
daytime ;  it  is  there  that  they  meet  the  master. 
Sometimes  it  is  Moody,  sometimes  Sankey,  who 
gets  up,  illuminated,  and  announces  that  he  sees 
the  Lord.  After  each*  meeting  Sankey  telegraphs 
to  his  manager  in  New  York  :  So  many  organs  sold, 
so  many  souls  saved ! 

London,  April  27,  1875. 

Yesterday  evening  I  went  to  the  Opera  to  hear 
Moody  and  Sankey.  There  was  only  a  substitute 
present  so  I  found  a  seat  easily.  It  seems  that  it  is 
Sankey's  music  that  produces  the  miracle.  A  hand- 
some blond  opened  the  meeting  in  his  stead,  and 


264  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1S75. 

edified  the  meeting  with  his  pious  gesticulations. 
Sometimes  he  asked  for  singing,  and  sometimes  for 
prayer. 

At  the  signal  for  song,  a  ^^  spinster  '*  (what  we 
should  call  tme  vieille  demoiselle)  sat  down  at  the 
organ,  and  played  a  devout  tune  and  everybody 
sang.  The  man  on  my  right  had  evidently  come  to 
make  his  high  notes  heard ;  the  one  on  my  left,  to 
come  out  strong  at  the  end  of  a  verse  with  a  sing- 
song bass ;  but  there  were  those  also  who  had  really 
come  to  the  Opera-House  to  find  God.  After  the 
music,  every  one  began  to  pray  out  loud ;  weariness 
and  sleep  overtook  the  assembly,  and  as  no  miracle 
seemed  forthcoming,  the  young  blond  hurriedly 
dismissed  the  meeting.  There  is  only  one  God  and 
one  Moody. 

Day  before  yesterday  I  was  talking  with  Kinnaird, 
M.  P.,  and  heir  presumptive  of  a  peerage,  in  one  of 
the  lobbies  of  the  House  of  Lords.  We  both  had 
our  hats  on.  The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  came  by 
with  his  on  too ;  he  is  very  young.  Kinnaird 
passed  the  time  of  day  with  him  and  talked  a  bit, 
taking  his  hat  off ;  but  the  Marquis  did  not  give  the 
slightest  evidence  of  intending  to  run  the  risk  of 
catching  cold  by  taking  off  his. 

London,  May  13,  1875. 

Count  Munster's  toast  is  creating  a  stir.  He  was 
so  imprudent  as  to  accept  an  invitation  to  the 
National  Club.  It  is  an  association  of  eccentrics 
who  meet  to  the  confusion  of  the  Catholic  clergy. 
A  bit  touched  by  what  he  heard  around  him  on  the 


1875-]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,   •  265 

politics  of  Bismarck,  he  pronounced  a  panegyric  on 
that  statesman,  and  mistook  for  a  testimony  of 
national  sympathy  the  applause  that  this  lot  of 
simpletons  gave  to  his  glorification  of  the  Kultur 
Kampf  2ccvA  to  his  declamations  against  the  black 
men.  Encouraged  by  their  cheers,  he  forgot  him- 
self and  proposed  as  an  example  for  England  the 
policy  of  the  Chancellor,  enforcing  his  advice  by 
alarming  insinuations  relative  to   the  situation   of 

Ireland. 

London,  May  21,  1875. 

The  Irish  deputation  having  provoked  an  expla- 
nation in  the  House  of  the  duties  of  an  ambassador 
the  debate  came  up  yesterday  in  Parliament.  Mr. 
Disraeli  replied  to  the  questions  of  the  Irish  mem- 
bers. Entirely  recognizing  that  it  is  not  usual  for 
ambassadors  to  make  political  speeches  at  public 
gatherings,  he  hastened  to  add  that  he  was  too 
strong  a  partisan  of  liberty  of  speech  to  complain 
of  the  innovation  which  was  being  made.  Then 
passing  to  the  object  of  Count  Munster^s  remarks, 
he  gratuitously  attributed  to  him  an  intention  of 
taking  a  trip  to  Ireland,  and  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  he  would  be  convinced,  after  the  trip  was  over, 
that  there  was  not  the  least  analogy  between  the 
situation  of  the  Catholic  subjects  of  the  German 
Emperor,  and  that  of  the  subjects  of  the  Queen.  I 
do  not  know  whether  Count  Munster  fathomed 
the  purpose  of  Disraeli's  speech,  but  he  went  about 
everywhere  protesting  that  he  never  dreamed  of 
taking  the  trip. 

I  had  a  very  interesting  conversation  with  Lord 


266  '   A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

Derby,  in  relation  to  the  future.  Speaking  of 
recent  events,  he  said  that  he  had  perceived  how 
deeply  I  felt  everything  I  said,  and  how  sincerely  I 
believed  it. 

Yes,  the  crisis  is  over.  Meeting  me  some  days 
ago  in  the  Foreign  Office,  Munster  took  me  in  his 
arms,  thus  certifying  the  peaceful  intentions  of  his 
government. 

Bitract6  trom  tbe  Bote^^ 

A  journal  of  the  life  I  led  during  the  months  of 
May  and  June  would  have  this  interest — it  would 
show  what  can  be  done  with  twenty-four  hours  a 
day.  The  pleasures  of  the  morning,  of  the  day,  of 
the  evening,  of  the  night  occupied  me  no  less  than 
business  itself.  After  all,  the  dinners  and  parties  of 
the  "  season  *'  are  the  business  of  a  diplomatist  who 
wishes  to  have  an  ear  and  an  eye  open  on  every- 
thing. What  complicated  my  pursuit  of  pleasure 
and  business  was  the  preparation  for  the  sale  in 
Leicester  Square  for  the  French  charities.  At  the 
death  of  Comte  de  Jarnac,  everything  fell  on  me,  I 
had  to  procure  in  France  things  to  sell ;  in  Eng- 
land, people  to  sell  them  and  to  buy  them.  I  never 
made  a  greater  hit.  The  booths  at  the  Embassy 
were  loaded  down,  the  most  elegant  ladies  of  Eng- 
lish society,  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike,  acted  as 
saleswomen  and  that  with  enthusiasm.  The  ladies 
of  the  diplomatic  corps  and  of  the  Embassy  threw 
themselves  into  it  with  devotion,  and  so  too  did  my 
society  friends ;  and  the  mob  poured  in.     Royalty 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  267 

was  an  acquisition  as  everywhere.  The  Duchess  of 
Edinburgh  came  in  person,  and  I  can  testify  that 
she  and  the  Duke  showed  their  generosity.  She 
was  most  gracious  to  France  and  to  her  representa- 
tive. In  brief,  the  sale  was  a  great  success,  socially 
and  financially.  I  profited  by  the  first  and  the 
charities  of  the  second.  The  sale  brought  in 
60,000  francs,  of  which  nearly  52,000  francs  are 
net.     These  figures  have  not  been  equalled  since. 

Extracts  from  tbe  CorresponDence* 

London,  October  25,  1875. 

I  have  made  a  trip  with  Beust,  and  here  is  some 
information  for  Klaczko :  When  Count  von  Beust 
was  still  in  the  service  of  Saxony,  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  gave  him,  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Sadowa,  a  message  to  Napoleon.  He  was  to  ask 
Napoleon  not  to  declare  war  against  Prussia,  but  to 
send  the  camp  at  Chalons  to  the  frontier,  and  to 
oblige  Prussia  to  recognize  him  as  a  mediator.  He 
found  the  emperor  in  a  state  of  complete  physical 
and  nervous  prostration.  All  he  got  from  him  were 
the  words,  repeated  again  and  again,  **  I  have  no 
army,  I  can  do  nothing.'* 

I  have  been  to  the  theatre  with  Austin  Lee.  The 
scenery  played  protagonist.  You  saw  a  prisoner  go 
through  a  wall,  then  the  wall  turned  and  the  pris- 
oner was  outside,  where  an  electric  moon  and  the 
villain  of  the  piece  were  waiting  for  him.  Happily 
he  drowned  the  villain  ;  and  though  he  was  himself 
killed  two  or  three  times,  he  came  to  life  again  and, 


268  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1875 

Fenian  as  he  was,  embraced,  in  the  final  apotheosis, 
and  was  embraced  by,  an  officer  of  the  Queen. 
They  made  a  mess  of  a  scene  in  the  pantomime 
which  might  have  produced  great  effect.  It  was  an 
Irish  wake.  The  corpse  lay  there  exposed  in  the 
miserable  hut  which  in  life  had  been  his  home  ;  an 
old  hag  improvised  a  lamentation  in  strophes  in 
honor  of  his  memory.  A  chorus  of  women,  rela- 
tions and  neighbors,  responded  in  antistrophes,  lift- 
ing their  arms  to  heaven.  Unhappily,  every  time  the 
hag  turned  her  head  the  corpse  sat  up  and  emptied 
the  pot  of  beer  at  her  elbow.  It  seems  that  in  Irish 
wakes  the  beer-mugs  are  replenished  often.  It 
ruins  the  solemnity  of  the  ceremony. 

London,  November  10,  1875. 

I  have  been  to  the  City  to  a  banquet  at  London 
Tavern.  The  commissioners  of  the  Guild-hall  Library 
invited  me  this  year  as  usual.  I  was  very  kindly 
welcomed  from  the  time  I  stood  up,  and  was 
cheered  when  I  spoke  of  the  *  Journal  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Common  Council '  :  ''It  begins  in 
the  year  1485  and  reaches  to  your  meeting  last 
night.  It  is  beautiful  to  be  able  to  follow  across 
four  centuries,  the  uninterrupted  deliberations  of 
your  municipal  parliament,  which,  under  every 
change  of  government,  has  preserved  the  char- 
ter of  its  liberties,  which  it  has  never  attempted  to 
abuse  in  an  effort  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  the 
nation.  .  .  ^ 

There  were  certainly  a  hundred  and  fifty  people 
present — members  of  the  corporation,  doctors,  men 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  269 

of  letters  and  artists.  The  chairman,  a  champagne 
merchant,  proposed  a  very  gracious  toast  in  honor 
of  me  as  a  representative  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and 
he  added  a  eulogy  of  Comte  de  Jarnac.  Then  there 
was  music  by  four  men  who  sang  together  without  an 
accompaniment.  It  was  semi-devotional  but  fairly 
well  done.  Then  my  turn  came.  I  had  not  antici- 
pated the  eulogy  of  M.  de  Jarnac,  and  I  had  to  be- 
gin with  some  words  in  honor  of  his  memory.  Then 
I  pulled  my  little  extempore  speech  out  of  my 
pocket  and  went  ahead.  One  of  the  men  next  me 
drank  nothing  but  water ;  he  is  an  active  member 
of  the  temperance  movement — what  they  call  a 
"  teetotaller.'*  Explain  that  word  who  can  !  He  did 
the  clown  in  the  evening's  entertainment — supplied 
a  mixture  of  the  ridiculous,  and  finished  his  toast 
with  a  glass  of  water.  Many  glasses  were  turned 
down  in  sign  of  agreement  with  him,  but  the 
assembly  stood  true  to  the  **  good  bombards.*' 

Westonbirt-House,i  November  14, 1875. 

It  was  foggy  and  rainy  when  I  started  and  grew 
worse  en  route.  There  was  nothing  but  an  endless 
expanse  of  water  to  be  seen.  I  felt  as  if  the  entire 
country  must  be  inundated,  from  London  to  Tetbury. 
But  the  important  thing  is  not  to  miss  the  station. 
The  rain  came  down  in  torrents ;  it  was  impossible 
to  distinguish  anything  or  to  put  one's  nose  outside. 
Even  the  guards  stayed  in.  I  got  out,  however,  at 
my  station,  and  found  the  door.  The  only  person  I 
met  was  a  little  girl  crying,  whom  I  took  in  charge, 

1  Mr.  Holford^s  country  house. 


570  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1875 

though  her  gibberish  was  beyond  me.  She  wanted 
to  go  back  to  Tetbury,  and  the  coachman  took  her 
up  by  him.  For  ten  miles  nothing  but  rain.  Then 
I  saw  the  little  town  of  Tetbury  with  its  pointed 
roofs  and  windows  in  the  style  of  the  Renaissance. 
After  an  hour  and  a  half  I  arrived  at  the  park,  and 
then  at  the  house.  It  seemed  like  a  palace  to  me. 
They  live  in  one  corner  of  it  only. 

The  young  ladies  came  down  in  long  flounced 
dresses.  After  dinner  Evy  played  some  Gounod 
for  me  and  the  sonata  which  they  call  here  **  Moon- 
light.'* Then  the  mother  sang  from  her  Italian  re- 
pertoire,— she  manages  her  contralto  with  much  art. 
It  was  exquisite.  Mr.  Holford  talked  with  me  first 
about  his  pack  of  hounds,  forty  spaniels  ;  then  of 
**  poor  rates,'*  and  ''  school-boards,**  in  English,  if 
you  please.  I  am  now  here  in  my  room.  The  wind 
whistles  around  the  house.  I  am  going  to  sleep  in 
a  bed  big  enough  for  fifteen,  and  in  a  room  of  Hke 

dimensions. 

Sunday. 

The  storm  did  not  let  up  all  night,  and  avalan- 
ches of  water  fell  on  the  roof ;  but  it  stood  firm. 
I  have  not  been  able  to  go  out,  except  in  a  carriage 
to  Malmesbury,  a  little  town  six  miles  from  here, 
where  I  found  mass  in  a  little  wooden  chapel, 
hard  by  the  splendid  ruins  of  an  ancient  abbey  in 
which  the  Anglicans  have  fashioned  for  themselves 
a  chapel.  These  little  English  villages  without  man- 
ufactories are  not  without  their  charms.  The  ruins 
of  the  abbey,  with  the  ivy,  broken  arches,  and  an- 
tique sculptures,    possess   a   beauty  of  their   own. 


1875.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  2JI 

Then  I  had  leisure  to  see  the  country.  It  is  good 
fox-hunting  ground — meadows  with  hedges  that 
can  be  leaped,  barriers  everywhere  that  can  be  lifted. 
One  may  ride  anywhere  across  country  in  a  hunt : 
except  in  a  hunt  it  would  not  be  permitted.  Practi- 
cally the  English  are  fox-worshippers:  six  days  in 
every  week  they  adore  him,  and  on  the  seventh  kill 
him,  or  kill  themselves  in  the  attempt.  Nothing 
is  sacred ;  the  church  loses  its  right  of  refuge,  the 
home  even  is  not  respected ;  they  kill  their  prey 
wherever  they  run  it  down — before  the  altar  or  on 
the  hearth,  even  if  they  have  to  break  in  through 
the  roof. 

The  Duke  of  Beaufort,  who  lives  at  Badminton  near 
here,  hunts  every  day.  To-morrow  if  the  weather 
is  fair  I  am  going  six  miles  to  see  the  start  of  the 
men  in  red,  the  women  in  riding-habits,  the  dogs 
and  the  horses.  When  I  say,  if  the  weather  permits, 
I  refer  to  myself,  for  the  others  think  nothing  of 
weather. 

This  morning  I  have  lost  no  time.  Sometimes 
Mrs.  Holford,  sometimes  Evy,  took  me  about  the 
house,  which  surpasses  in  magnificence  any  that 
you  know.  There  is  a  hall,  a  sort  of  conservatory 
three  stories  high,  something  like  the  great  apart- 
ments of  Louis  XIV.  The  most  original  room  in  the 
house  is  the  one  painted  by  Mrs.  Holford,  in  a  bizarre, 
fanciful  style,  somethingbetweenDelacroixlandscape 
and  Rouen  pottery.  When  the  mother  sat  down  the 
daughter  played  cicerone  in  her  stead,  going  on  before 
with  her  long  braids  down  her  back,  her  shawl  thrown 
over  her  3houlder3  after  the  fashion  of  a  Roman 


272  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

peasant.  She  is  very  agreeable  and  seems  to  have 
become  stronger,  though  you  have  the  feeling  that 
if  you  were  to  look  at  her  very  hard  you  might  see 
through  her.  Minnie  is  not  very  well  and  shows 
herself  but  seldom.  The  mother  decidedly  has  dis- 
tinction, one  understands  where  the  daughters  get 
theirs. 

Monday. 

The  sun  shines — "  Alleluia  !  **  and  then  your  letter 
of  Saturday  has  arrived.  The  ground  is  frozen, 
covered  with  white  frost.  I  have  been  sent  for  to 
go  about  the  place.  The  house  is  an  old  palace 
surrounded  by  gardens,  with  ponds  and  fountains, 
etc.  The  architecture  is  like  Versailles  and  decora- 
tive in  effect.  Then  there  is  the  park — endless,  un- 
dulating stretch  of  verdure  with  great  clumps  of 
trees  which  extends  for  I  don't  know  how  far. 

The  hunt !  I  can  really  say  that  I  hunted  with 
the  Duke  of  Beaufort's  pack.  It  is  the  same  as  if  I 
had.  At  half-past  ten  I  started  in  a  carriage  with 
my  two  small  friends  and  their  grandmother.  We 
reached  the  **  hunt ''  six  miles  away,  in  a  neighboring 
park.  As  we  drew  near  we  could  see,  coming  here 
and  there  through  the  fields,  a  man  in  blue  uniform 
with  gold  buttons,  round  hat,  and  white  breeches. 
The  roads  were  dotted  with  pony  chaises  and 
victorias  ;  and  lastly,  there  were  all  the  children  and 
working  people  of  the  country  round,  all  going  to 
the  "  hunt.'*  We  found  already  gathered  a  goodly 
number  of  gentlemen,  and  of  farmers  who  have  none 
the  less  good  horses.  The  friends  only  of  the  Duke 
wegir  his  uniform  ;  others  wear  the  red  hunting  suits 


1875.]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  273 

of  the  neighboring  hunt.  Grooms  with  reserve 
horses  for  the  second  portion  of  the  day,  stood 
behind  the  cavaliers  who  were  waiting  for  the  hunt 
to  begin.  The  ladies  of  the  party  w^ore  white  breast- 
plates on  their  habits.  The  pack  arrived  at  last. 
The  first  **  whip  '*  came  on  ahead  in  green,  then  all 
the  dogs  with  their  tails  in  the  air.  The  second 
*'  whip,'*  the  Master  of  the  Hounds,  is  also  Marquis  of 
Worcester,  the  Duke's  son  ;  he  takes  personal  charge 
of  the  hounds.  The  horsemen  moved  about  bowing 
and  chatting  with  the  occupants  of  the  carriages. 
The  Duke  of  Beaufort,  who  has  handed  over  the 
direction  of  the  hunt  to  his  son,  regretted  the  ab- 
sence of  a  number  of  the  customary  hunters,  who 
had  been  kept  away  by  the  grounds  being  softened 
by  the  rain.  One  of  the  huntswomen,  Maid  of 
Honor  to  the  Princess  of  Wales,  came  to  our  carriage 
to  pass  the  time  of  day.  When  the  signal  was  given, 
the  column  moved  toward  the  woods,  where  they 
expected  to  start  a  fox.  It  was  a  helter-skelter 
squadron  of  one  hundred  and  fifty,  dressed  in  all 
all  colors  ;  gentlemen,  farmers,  ladies  and  **  girls  *' — 
almost  babies.  A  regular  mob  accompanied  them. 
Gamins,  soldiers  in  red  coats,  peasants  all  keeping 
up  as  best  they  could.  Our  carriage  took  a  road  at 
one  side.  We  saw  the  column  stop  on  the  borders 
of  a  wood,  waiting  for  a  sign  from  the  dogs  who  had 
disappeared  among  the  trees.  Many  of  the  strag- 
glers cut  across  lots  and  caught  up  with  the  main 
body  of  the  hunt ;  others  looked  on  from  a  distance 
in  hopes  the  fox  would  come  their  way.  Fancy  our 
luck!     The  dogs  swept  toward  us,  a  herd  of  cattle 


274  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

helter-skelter  along  with  them.  They  crossed  the 
road  two  hundred  feet  ahead  of  us.  The  cavalcade 
came  after— bore  down  back  of  us  on  a  fence  which 
they  trampled  to  pieces  beneath  their  horses'  feet. 
As  we  were  directly  in  their  way,  they  turned  right 
and  left  to  avoid  us— some  down  into  the  ditches, 
others  headed  by  two  little  girls  of  twelve  to  fifteen 
years  of  age  leaping  the  hedge.  They  found  the 
dogs  in  fields  on  the  other  side  of  the  road.  They 
came  up  with  them  and  opened  out — the  dogs  had 
lost  their  scent !  They  hesitated,  hunted,  and  took 
the  second  hedge.  One  red-coat  had  a  fall,  but  was 
on  horseback  again  before  I  had  noticed  him.  One 
or  two  ladies  took  advantage  of  an  opening,  and 
the  whole  crowd  disappeared, 

And  it  will  all  be  done  over  again  to-morrow  and 
the  day  after.  There  are  always  the  same  horsemen 
five  times  a  week.  The  Marquis  of  Worcester  will 
not  miss  once  for  four  months  running ;  then— he 
will  return  to  his  regiment.  Decidedly,  it  is  more 
than  a  pastime— it  is  a  passion,  it  is  a  national  in- 
stitution. High  and  low,  everybody  shares  it,  be- 
ginning with  the  good  people  whose  fences  are 
knocked  down,  whose  turnips  are  trodden  underfoot 
by  a  hundred  and  fifty  horses,  not  to  mention  the 
mob  on  foot,  that  keeps  up  I  don't  know  how! 
It  is  dusk  as  I  write.  The  hunt  is  scarcely  over  yet. 
And  every  one  is  coming  back,  at  the  cost  of  six, 
seven  or  eight  miles  more,  in  addition  to  those  he 
has  galloped  during  the  day  over  flooded  country, 
over  walls  and  hedges  and  fences.  I  ought  to  say 
that  when  I  3aw  the  start  and  the  cavalry  charge  I 


18; S-]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  275 

had  a  strong  desire  to  be  in  it.  I  understand  the 
attraction  ;  but  every  day  for  four  months  is  steep ! 

After  luncheon  my  friends  took  me  in  a  pony 
chaise,  across  the  beauties  of  the  park  to  the  keeper's 
lodge.  I  saw  conservatories  without  end,  then  a 
lake,  a  bit  of  a  wild,  heaps  of  rocks  that  it  seems 
have  been  newly  brought  there.  And  the  lake  too 
IS  a  thing  of  yesterday.  The  pheasants  were  so 
thick  we  fairly  trod  on  them.  At  last  we  reached 
the  Head-keeper's  lodge,  and  saw  a  pack  of  thirty 
spaniels  with  legs  short  enough  to  make  the  rabbits 
dance  for  joy ! 

It  is  all  so  beautiful  and  so  well  cared  for  that  in 
the  heart  of  the  country,  one  loses  the  sense  of 
nature.  The  hand  of  man  is  visible  everywhere 
though  he  himself  is  not  in  sight.  I  returned  on 
foot,  walking  by  Mrs.  Holford  in  the  chaise. 

I  must  close,  because  of  time  and  space,  not 
from  lack  of  matter, 

Extracts  from  tbe  IRotee. 

I  had  charge  of  the  Embassy  for  some  time,  in 
November  and  December.  I  undertook  the  respon- 
sibility in  the  most  complete  ignorance  of  what  at- 
titude the  French  Government  wished  maintained 
at  London,  and  the  situation  of  affairs  was  delicate. 
Relations  between  the  conservative  cabinet  and 
Russia  were  visibly  strained.  Everything  indicated 
that  England  had  given  up  the  doctrine  of  non- 
interference in  matters  of  foreign  poHtics,  and  that 
she  was  prepared  to  give  a  sign  of  life,  or  rather 


276  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  [1875. 

of  resurrection  from  the  dead,  in  the  East.  It  went 
hard  not  to  be  authorized  to  put  in  a  word  at  Lon- 
don ;  but  I  tried  at  least  to  make  it  understood  at 
Paris  that  the  situation  was  grave.  This  was  the 
object  of  a  dispatch,  or  rather  of  a  memorandum, 
which  I  sent  the  home  Government  on  the  19th  of 
November,  concerning  the  state  of  mind  and  atti- 
tude of  each  party  in  England  toward  foreign  poli- 
tics. Their  interest  in  the  European  equilibrium, 
the  Colonies,  the  Eastern  question,  /.  e,  the  Indian 
Empire,  the  two  routes  leading  there,  the  one  for 
Russia  by  Central  Asia,  the  other  for  England  by 
the  Suez  Canal ;  what  England  will  tolerate  and  what 
she  will  not  tolerate  in  Europe  and  elsewhere.  .  .  . 
My  observations  still  seem  to  me  to  be  correct,  and 
have  thus  far  been  confirmed  by  events.  In  any 
event  they  were  at  the  moment  extremely  a  propos, 
reaching  Paris  as  they  did  five  days  before  the  buy- 
ing in  of  the  Suez  Shares  belonging  to  the  Khedive. 
I  did  not  stop,  however,  with  this  general  warn- 
ing, I  sent  at  the  same  time  under  date  of  the  20th 
a  more  precise  account,  which  was  intended  to  open 
their  eyes  to  the  attitude  the  cabinet  was  prepared 
to  take  in  the  East,  and  in  especial  in  Egypt.  The 
morning  of  the  20th  I  received  word  from  Due 
Decazes  asking  me  what  effect  the  company's  action 
in  pushing  the  Khedive*s  stock  would  have  on  the 
English  Government.  The  declarations  I  obtained 
from  Lord  Derby  may  be  read  in  my  despatch  of  the 
20th.  It  is  recorded  in  the  French  Yellow  Book  for 
1875.  They  were  categorical,  and  marked  clearly 
England*?  intention  if  the  IChedive  should  be  ofe- 


i875-]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  277 

Hged  to  dispose  of  his  shares  to  meet  the  threatened 
demands  upon  his  treasury,  not  to  let  them  go  into 
other  hands  than  their  own,  and  in  especial  not  into 
French  hands.  But  in  spite  of  my  urgent  desire  for 
authority  to  open  up  the  subject  again  with  Lord 
Derby,  the  Due  Decazes  neither  replied  to  my  tele- 
gram of  the  19th  nor  to  my  letter  of  the  20th,  of 
which  I  here  give  some  extracts. 

"  November  20,  1875. 

''  Monsieur  le  Due : 

"  The  conversation  in  my  interview  to-day  with 
Lord  Derby,  having  drifted  from  the  financial  diffi- 
culties of  Turkey  to  those  of  Egypt,  Lord  Derby 
told  me  that  the  Khedive  was  trying  to  mortgage 
his  Suez  shares  at  the  Bank  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 
I  then  asked  him  if  there  was  not  also  in  contem- 
plation a  sale  of  them  to  the  company.  He  said  :  *  I 
must  not  conceal  from  you  that  I  see  serious  incon- 
veniences in  the  way  of  anything  of  that  kind.  You 
know  my  opinion  of  the  French  company.  It  has 
borne  the  risks  of  the  enterprise ;  the  honor  of  the 
achievement  belongs  to  it,  and  I  do  not  contest  one 
of  its  titles  to  recognition,  but  our  interest  in 
the  canal  is  greater  than  that  of  anybody  else ;  we 
use  it  more  than  any  other  country.  Keeping  that 
passage  open  has  become  for  us  a  point  of  capital 
importance.  I  should  look  forward,  however,  with 
great  satisfaction,  to  the  time  when  it  might  be  pos- 
sible to  buy  out  the  shareholders  at  a  generous 
figure,  and  to  replace  the  company  by  some  sort  of 
joint  administration,  or  syndicate  in  which  i^U  nation? 


278  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1875. 

should  be  represented.  In  any  case,  however,  we 
must  do  our  best  to  prevent  a  matter  that  our 
interest  depends  on  from  being  monopolized.  The 
guarantee  resulting  from  the  Porte's  control  is  no 
longer  of  insignificance  ;  if  we  should  lose  also  the 
guarantee  from  the  Khedive's  participation  in  the 
control,  we  should  be  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
M,  de  Lesseps.  The  French  company  and  share- 
holders have  already  no  millions  of  the  200  which 
represents  the  capital  stock ;  that  is  enough." 

After  some  words  in  reply  to  the  subject  of  the 
Suez  Canal  company,  I  went  back  to  the  mortgage 
loan  of  which  Lord  Derby  had  spoken.  He  replied 
that  he  did  not  want  the  Khedive  to  mortgage  his 
titles,  but  that,  after  all,  a  mortgage  is  not  a  transfer 
of  the  titles,  and  that  they  could  always  be  bought 
back.  He  insisted  in  closing  on  the  bad  effect  that 
would  be  produced  in  the  present  circumstances  by 
a  sale  of  the  titles  to  a  French  company,  and  ex- 
pressed also  his  desire  not  to  reawaken  sleeping  jeal- 
ousies which  a  matter  of  this  kind  would  inevitably 
provoke.''  ^ 

Meanwhile  the  English  government  lost  no  time. 
It  was  Saturday,  the  19th,  that  Mr.  Disraeli,  dining 
at  the  Rothschilds,  allowed  the  Baron  to  suggest  to 
him  the  idea  of  England's  buying  the  shares  up. 
The  idea  pleased  him  ;  he  immediately  summoned 
Lord  Derby  and  Lord  Salisbury.  The  former  hesi- 
tated, the  latter  grew  excited.   Baron  Rothschild  took 

^  It  is  the  step  related  in  this  letter  which  was  the  occasion  of  Mr. 
Disraeli's  complimenting  M.  Gavard  publicly  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons (see  later  letter  of  February  9,  1876), 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON:  279 

the  purchase  on  his  own  responsibility,  pending  the 
approval  of  Parliament ;  it  was  concluded  during  the 
25th  and  communicated  to  the  press  that  night. 
The  news  astonished  all  London  the  morning  of  the 
26th.  It  had  been  perfectly  unexpected.  It  was  a 
theatrical  stroke  of  the  sort  Dizzy  delights  in,  devised 
as  a  business  stratagem  by  Rothschild.  The  ambas- 
sador ^  returned  the  morning  of  the  26th. 


;6itract0  trom  tbe  CorreeponDence. 

London,  November  29,  1875. 

I  dined  with  Count  Beust.  Everybody  had  the 
blues.  .  .  .  The  celebrated  Burton  was  there ;  you 
may  have  met  him  in  your  excursions  into  Central 
Africa.  China  remains  for  him  still  to  see  ;  but  for 
that,  he  would  be  a  prey  to  ennui  it  is  his  resource 
against  the  spleen.  At  present  he  is  on  his  way  to 
Zanzibar.  He  knows  Lake  Nyanza  as  I  know  the 
Bois  de  Boulogne.  He  has  lived  intimately  with 
the  Mormons.  Yesterday  he  was  in  Ireland,  and  two 
months  before  he  discovered  some  antiquities  in 
Greece. 

He  has  learned  one  after  the  other  all  the  languages 
there  are.  He  began  with  the  three  Arabic  dialects 
of  Afghanistan  ;  and  afterwards,  with  the  aid  of 
these,  made  his  way  to  Mecca.  He  has  received,  in 
his  travels,  from  arrows  and  lances,  as  many  wounds 
as  he  knows  languages.  His  face  is  tattooed  with 
scars.     He  acquires  the  use  of  a  new  tongue  in  ten 

1  Marquis  d'Harcourt. 


28o  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LOATDOAT.  [1875. 

days.  He  leases  out  his  memory  to  a  language  for 
so  long — takes  as  many  months'  worth  of  any  given 
idiom  as  he  wants,  and  with  it  all  speaks  French 
better  than  I  do  English. 

I  was  amused  this  morning  on  reading  the  news 
of  a  mishap  to  an  English  iron-clad.  A  little  more 
and  the  "  Iron  Duke''  which  sunk  the  "  Vanguard  " 
three  weeks  ago  would  have  been  on  its  way  to 
join  her  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  She  was  on  the 
verge  of  foundering,  the  distress  signal  was  at  the 
mast-head  ;  the  pumps  could  do  no  more.  Then  it 
was  discovered  that  they  had  simply  forgotten  to  bat- 
ten down  a  hatch.  The  best  thing  is  that  the  vessel 
was  going  down  in  plain  sight  of  the  shore  and  of 
the  dockyards  without  any  one's  dreaming  of  send- 
ing help  ;  nobody  saw  the  signal,  and  they  had  for- 
gotten to  take  powder  aboard,  and  could  not  fire  an 
alarm-gun !  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  English  fleet 
will  be  better  equipped  when  it  leaves  to  conquer 

Constantinople. 

London,  November  27,  1875. 

England  has  bought  the  Khedive's  shares  in  the 
Suez  stock.  It  is  a  masterly  stroke  for  Disraeli  at 
home.  Every  one  here  approves  it,  without  dis- 
tinction of  party  ;  and  he  is  safe  for  the  next  ses- 
sion. All  his  weaknesses  are  forgotten.  Well,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  foreign  politics, — it  is  certain 
that  it  is  the  first  step  that  has  been  taken  over  and 
above  negotiation  in  recent  years.  England  has 
provided  for  herself  ;  I  hardly  think  the  other  powers 
will  not  do  the  same.  All  right,  they  will  say, 
because  they  have  never  made  any  claims  on  Egypt. 


1875]  ^  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  281 

But  it  has  not  been  proven  that  the  barrier  between 
Servia  and  Montenegro  is  not  to  be  raised, — a 
fact  which  England  has  no  doubt  taken  into  consid- 
eration. As  for  ourselves,  my  advice  is,  not  to 
sulk  ;  our  ill-temper  would  do  no  good.  For  my 
part,  I  anticipated  England's  design,  if  not  the  way 
in  which  she  has  carried  it  into  effect. 

London,  December  14,  1875. 

I  spent  an  uninteresting  evening  yesterday  with 
Solvyns  at  a  Geographical  Society.  It  takes  the 
English  to  listen  for  hours  together  to  the  journal 
of  a  trip  to  New  Guinea.  Neither  the  author  nor 
the  reader  put  into  it  anything  to  ward  off  sleep. 
One  member  read  in  a  monotonous  voice,  while  an- 
other pointed  out  the  places  on  a  large  map  with  a 
long  stick.  The  female  public,  especially,  felt  it 
necessary  to  applaud  from  time  to  time,  but  no  one 
knew  why.  Then  a  gentleman  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  country,  gave  an  account  of  his  trip,  drawl- 
ing a  great  deal ;  feeling  the  need  to  make  his 
travels  interesting,  he  referred  frequently  to  human 
flesh.  It  ended  with  the  wish  that  the  British  flag 
might  soon  float  over  this  land  of  cannibals.  It 
gives  one  a  clue  to  the  taste  for  geography  these 
insatiable  land-grabbers  have. 

I  spoke  with  Mr.  Oppenheim  at  the  club  ;  he  is 
the  originator  of  the  Suez  affair.  He  suggested  the 
idea  to  M.  Disraeli  and  gave  the  Rothschilds  a  hint 
what  to  do  ;  their  commission  is  2,500,000  francs. 
He  confirmed  my  belief  that  Lord  Derby  knew 
nothing  of   it  when  he  talked  with  me  on  Saturday. 


THE  YEAR  1876. 
Bxtracta  trom  tbe  CortesponDence* 

Hatfield-House,!  January  3,  1876. 

When  I  used  to  leave  you  to  go  to  the  country, 
my  one  idea  was  to  have  done  with  it  as  quickly  as 
possible  and  get  back  to  our  apartment.  It  is  en- 
tirely different  now.  Here  I  am  in  the  country, 
nothing  drawls  me  back  to  town,  since  your  letters 
reach  me  just  as  well  here,  and  no  one  waits  for  my 
return. 

I  occupy  the  same  room  as  last  year,  the  same 
mausoleum  of  a  bed,  same  Cyclopean  fire.  .  .  . 

The  first  familiar  faces  I  found  were  those  of  the 
two  daughters.  The  elder,  who  is  almost  pretty, 
has  the  same  frank  manner  as  always.  She  is  per- 
fectly natural.  I  succeeded  in  sitting  next  to  her 
at  table.  There  were  thirty-six  of  us.  I  sat  directly 
under  the  four  French  flags,  which  were  not  put 
there  out  of  politeness  to  the  French  ministry. 
They  were  a  gift  from  Wellington. 

After  dinner  the  band  played  waltzes.  Every 
one  danced.  I  took  a  turn  with  one  of  the  Rever- 
ends. 

It  was  time  for  me  to  stop.     I  saw  already  thirty- 

1  Residence  of  Lord  Salisbury. 
282 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDOJSr,  283 

SIX  candles,  and  .  .  .  '*  the  years*  irreparable  wear 
and  tear ! " 

To-morrow  there  is  to  be  a  dance  with  eight 
hundred  people  invited.  It  ought  to  be  worth  see- 
ing the  *' yeomanry ''  in  petticoats.  There  will  be 
a  hunt  no  doubt  in  the  morning.  Do  not  be 
alarmed,  I  shall  not  get  into  the  way  of  any  of  the 
members  of  the  cabinet.  I  shall  pay  more  attention 
to  the  hunters  than  to  the  game.  Eustace  Cecil,  the 
under  Secretary  of  War  is  here.  We  are  to  come 
back  it  seems  even  to  the  English  army  knapsacks. 

The  weather  is  beautiful  for  this  season  of  the 
year,  and  the  walk  will  be  pleasant.  It  is  not  the  bish- 
op*s  tree  that  you  visit  here  but  the  queen^s.^  She 
was  there  when  they  told  her  that  she  was  rid  of 
her  sister,  which  cannot  have  given  her  much  pain. 
It  appears  from  the  last  things  written  about  her 
that  she  was  eminent  for  none  but  moral  attributes 
and  that  it  was  Lord  Cecil,  the  founder  of  this 
house,  that  was  the  brains  of  the  administration. 

Hatfield,  Wednesday  Morning, 
January  5,  1876. 

First  let  me  tell  you  the  great  events  that  the 
Marquis  announced  to  me  last  night.  Lytton^  is 
appointed  viceroy  of  India.  I  shall  be  able  to 
recommend  Eydin  ^  at  my  leisure.  This  appoint- 
ment will  not  be  refused.  For  five  years,  at  least, 
our  friend  will  be  the  greatest  and  most  powerful 

1  Elizabeth. 

2  E.  R.  Bulwer-Lytton,  English  Ambassador  to  Paris,  where  he 
died  in  1891. 

8  Consul-General  at  Calcutta, 


284  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [  1876. 

sovereign  in  the  world — one  hundred  and  eighty 
million  souls  at  his  mercy.  Also  he  can  recruit  his 
fortune  there,  thanks  to  an  enormous  salary.  But 
the  poor  young  wife  will  often  think,  in  her  Asiatic 
palaces,  of  her  dear  Knebworth  and  of  her  mother 
whom  she  will  leave  here  ill ! 

Yesterday  I  fired  all  my  cartridges  and  we 
brought  down  six  hundred //><;^i".  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  I  shot  like  an  oyster  ! — it's  enough  to  drive 
one  to  despair.  All  the  same,  toward  the  end  of 
the  day  I  found  my  account  in  watching  the  others. 

This  park  with  its  old  trees  is  superb  ;  I  should 
not  have  roamed  about  it  in  this  way  but  for  the 
pretext  afforded  by  the  rabbits  and  pheasants.  I 
chatted  mostly  with  Mr.  Rally,  M.  P.,  who  is  of 
Greek  descent ;  with  the  oldest  son  of  Lady  Derby, 
Lord  Lyonnel  Cecil  (whom  I  mistook  for  Mr.  Beres- 
ford),  son  and  heir  to  ;^40,ooo  a  year — as  you  might 
guess  by  looking  at  him  ;  he  has  an  aplomb !  His 
two  sisters  are  here  ;  poor  things,  they  are  so  much 
more  agreeable  than  he  ! 

The  hunt  over,  I  sat  in  front  of  my  fire  till  din- 
ner. During  the  day  the  house  has  been  trans- 
formed for  the  ball.  Everything  goes  here  by  rule 
and  commandment,  as  at  a  theatre.  As  there  were 
forty-six  of  us  we  were  divided  into  three  tables. 
Toward  ten  o'clock  the  whole  of  Hertfordshire 
began  to  arrive.  Whoever  leaves  his  card  at  the 
house  is  invited.  It  is  at  this  annual  f^te  that  the 
young  people  who  do  not  go  to  court  nor  to  Lon- 
don are  presented.  .  .  .  The  only  improvement 
that  I  noticed  is  that  the  ladies  hold   their  dresses 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  285 

under  their  arms  when  they  dance.  I  danced  some 
quadrilles,  nay,  a  lancers  even — one  must  be  useful. 
Martino^  and  his  wife  joined  us.  The  two  orches- 
tras played  till  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  There 
were  certainly  eight  hundred  persons  and  nearly  as 
many  carriages  on  the  place.     The  castle  was   lit 

with  electric  light. 

Wednesday  Evening. 

This  has  been  a  beautiful  sunshiny  day.  The 
hunt  gave  me  a  pretext  to  take  the  air  at  my  ease ; 
I  say  pretext  because  I  was  as  clumsy  as  yesterday. 
I  shouldn't  have  minded  if  I  had  not  had  an  attend- 
ant behind  me,  who  could  scarcely  conceal  his  con- 
tempt. He  did  not  know  that  I  was  a  member  of 
the  Society  for  Protection  of  Animals,  and  that 
every  time  I  missed  fire  it  was  so  much  gained. 
There  were  only  seven  of  us  and  we  only  killed 
two  hundred  and  ^ity  pieces.  The  Marquis  is  at 
Hertford  for  the  **  quarter  sessions."  There  are  not 
many  here  to  talk  with. 

Martino  has  been  called  back  to  London.  Beust 
is  running  to  Knowsley  after  Lord  Derby. 

When  we  re-entered  the  gallery  the  orchestra  be- 
gan to  play  a  waltz,  and  I  had  to  dance.  If  I 
should  stay  a  few  days  longer  I  should  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  Vestris;  but  not  in  the  lancers.  I  suc- 
ceeded in  putting  everybody  out,  but  it  helped  on 

the  fun. 

Thursday. 

Another  day  of  hunting  and  of  dancing.     As  for 
the  hunt  it   is  horrible  ;  more   than    six    hundred 
1  Charge  d' Affaires  d'ltalie. 


286  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1876. 

pieces  brought  down  by  seven  shooters,  not  count- 
ing those  which  have  been  killed  since.  I  con- 
tributed the  least  possible  to  the  massacre,  though 
still  too  much  for  my  conscience.  These  days  in 
the  open  air  are  certainly  doing  me  much  good, 
although  nature  is  not  very  natural  in  this  country. 
The  gas-lights  hardly  end  where  the  thickets  begin. 
The  hunt  was  without  incident  or  possible  accident. 
Pigeons  were  shot — a  great  many.  The  only  unex- 
pected item  was  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  fox ; 
whereupon  there  followed  frightful  cries,  and  every 
one  abused  everybody  else,  but  without  levelling  a 
gun.  The  beast  is  reserved  for  his  lordship^s  pack. 
Before  dinner,  we  had  music  which  was  poor,  and 
then  visited  the  famous  **  Cecil  papers'* — the  entire 
correspondence  of  Cecil  with  Elizabeth  and  James  I. ; 
the  order  for  the  execution  of  Leicester,  for  that  of 
Mary,  entirely  in  the  Queen's  hand.  One  can't 
speak  one's  mind  about  Elizabeth  with  perfect  free- 
dom here,  because  Elizabeth  was  really  Cecil.  He 
flattered  her  passions  to  the  point  of  bloodshed,  to 
keep  her  in  the  humor  of  allowing  him  to  reign. 

London,  January  10,  1876. 

While  I  was  dining  at  the  club  Schouvaloff  came 
in  and  took  possession  of  a  seat.  Conversation  ran 
so  high  while  he  ate  and  drank  that  it  soon  became 
general.  For  an  ambassador,  he  is  amusing.  He 
told  us  of  the  entertaining  time  he  had  in  Paris,  in 
1856,  when  the  Emperor  commanded  Bacciochi  to 
entertain  him.  In  the  midst  of  these  edifying  tales, 
he  dropped  a  few  words  about  the  Austrian  memo- 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON-.  287 

rial.  Was  he  making  game  of  it,  or  speaking  in  its 
support  ? 

Lytton*s  appointment  is  generally  well-liked.  It 
falls  in  line  with  the  old  tradition  of  divining  the 
*'  rising  man."  How  old  were  Pitt,  Palmerston, 
Canning,  Gladstone,  when  they  took  hold  of  public 
affairs  ?  He  was  not  the  nominee  of  Disraeli  only. 
Derby  said  some  time  ago  to  Reeve,  that  Lytton 
would  be  called  to  a  high  post. 

Lord  Amberley  is  dead.  I  wonder  if  he  will  be 
cremated  as  his  wife  was  ?  He  is  the  oldest  son  of 
Lord  John  Russell.  He  and  his  wife  have  made  a 
specialty  of  blasphemy  and  of  rearing  their  children 
as  agnostics. 

Yesterday  I  dined  with  the  Vaughan  family. 
They  had  invited  the  daughter  of  X.  for  me  to  meet. 
Her  eyes,  tongue,  imagination,  head,  toilet,  all  were 
spirited ;  a  true  Parisian  mouth,  but  with  German 
brains  grafted  on  English  humor  and  Italian  audac- 
ity. She  believes  in  nothing  but  her  own  reason  ; 
reads  everything,  knows  everything  and  takes  coun- 
cil of  no  one.  She  began  by  saying  that  so  far  as 
she  could  consent  to  marrying  any  one  is  concerned, 
she  would  prefer  Salvini ;  after  him,  she  thinks 
Wagner  possible,  and  a  certain  prophet  of  Wagner's, 
a  German  pianist,  who  has  married  a  Greek  and  has 
baptised  his  children  each  with  the  name  of  some 
opera  of  the  god  of  music.  She  believes  also  in 
George  Sand.  Does  she  admire  the  morals  of  L^lia 
and  Indiana  ?  Yes,  she  believes  in  the  free 
woman  in  the  free  state,  and  talked  about  it.  She 
is  a  German,  and  a  German  in  sympathy  with  Bis- 


288  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1876. 

marck  and  the  German  Emperor.  In  short,  she  is  a 
complete  Salmagundi.  You  would  only  find  this 
sort  of  thing  in  England.  I  thanked  my  friends  for 
letting  me  see  so  diverting  a  spectacle. 

This  morning,  I  received  an  amusing  letter  from 
Lytton,  who  is  very  anxious  to  know  how  to  man- 
age his   ** white  elephant**;    he  seems  to  be  very 

happy. 

London,  February  8,  1876. 

Just  back  from  the  ceremony.^  Well,  it  does  not 
stir  one's  risibility,  and  that  is  saying  not  a  little 
when  one  recollects  the  heralds,  the  throne,  the 
crown,  the  genuflections,  etc.,  etc.  I  left  home  at 
one  o'clock,  and  made  my  way  through  the  human 
current  to  Westminster.  No  bells  rang,  because  of 
the  illness  of  Lady  Augusta  (Stanley).  The  House 
was  full.  At  first  I  saw  nothing  but  women ;  the 
day  was  so  dark  I  could  scarcely  make  out  anything 
else,  even  after  I  had  been  there  for  some  time.  I 
sat  on  the  Bishops'  bench,  up  high.  The  Justices 
were  in  the  centre  in  their  wigs,  and  looked  like  a 
drove  of  enormous  sheep  ;  next  came  the  ermine 
robes,  and  then  the  peeresses.  Toward  two 
o'clock  the  hall  was  filled  with  a  continuous  mur- 
mur; everybody  had  recognized  everybody  else. 
Exactly  opposite  me  sat  Lady  Ilchester,  with  a  flash 
and  sparkle  of  diamonds  about  her  neck,  and  eyes  as 
brilliant  as  her  gems.  By  her  side  sat  Lady  Lytton. 
Lytton  himself  was  conspicuous  among  the  ermine 
robes,  hi3  brown  head  rising  black  above  the  white, 

^  Opening  of  Parli^m^nt. 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  289 

I  met  them  on  my  way  out ;  they  leave  next 
month. 

To  return  to  the  ceremony  :  it  began  with  the 
arrival  of  the  two  Princesses  Mary — Mary,  Duchess 
of  Edinburgh,  coming  in  second.  They  seated  them- 
selves in  front  of  the  throne  on  the  woolsack. 
Mary  of  Teck  was  spiritually  much  at  her  ease,  con- 
vinced that  she  was  exciting  admiration ;  the 
Duchess  seemed  bored,  because  of  her  second  rank. 
Then  entered  the  heralds,  then  the  sword,  and 
the  crown,  all  backwards — and  not  one  fell !  The 
Queen  was  not  more  majestic  than  usual,  but  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  silence  and  respect  she  was  very 
imposing.  She  mounted  her  throne,  where  her  robe 
was  in  waiting.  Her  two  daughters,  one  on  either 
side,  assisted  her.  The  Princess  of  Wales  took  her 
place  on  the  woolsack  opposite.  The  Queen  gave 
orders  to  notify  the  Commons.  The  door  at  the 
bottom  opened,  and  from  the  throne  you  could  see 
the  Speaker  in  the  chair.  The  Commons  kept  the 
Queen  waiting  some  time,  for  the  reason  simply  that 
they  always  had  done  so.  Presently  we  heard  them 
coming.  The  Speaker  came  forward  deliberately ; 
the  mob  followed  with  a  great  noise  which  they 
kept  up  the  whole  time,  as  they  crowded  at  the  bar. 

The  Speaker  stood  opposite  the  throne  in  his 
official  costume  and  bore  himself  with  great  dig- 
nity. 

The  Lord   Chancellor  knelt  down  and  received 

from  the  Queen's  own  hand  the  speech  that  he  had 

himself  brought  there  under  his  arm.     He  read  it ; 

but  there   was  no :    ''  Oyez,  k  r^ine  k    veult !  '* 

^9 


290  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1876. 

What  has  become  of  the  ancient  formula?  There 
was  nothing  in  especial  in  the  speech  itself  ;  it 
was  just  what  one  might  have  expected,  except, 
perhaps,  for  a  reference  to  the  title  that  is  to  be 
conferred  upon  the  Queen  as  Sovereign  of  India.  It 
will  be  Empress  no  doubt.  The  ceremony  ended,  as 
it  had  begun,  in  perfect  silence.  A  slight  bow  to 
the  right,  a  slight  bow  to  the  left — that  was  all. 
Those  who  had  come  in  backward,  went  out  back- 
ward ;  and  I  found  myself  in  the  midst  of  a  flood 
of  peers  and  peeresses,  and  was  much  flattered  to  see 
how  many  great  people  I  know :  Aberdare,  Vernon, 
Lytton,  Salisbury  (who  called  me  Bishop,  because 
of  where  I  sat)  ;  Carnarvon,  Bedford,  Brett,  and  then 
the  young  ladies.  I  found  the  Marchioness  of 
Bristol  very  pleasant,  and  a  sister  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  not  less  so.  I  presented  my  homage  to  the 
two  beauties,  Ilchester  and  Galloway,  all  in  the  hub- 
bub of  our  exit.     The  place  was  fairly  overflowing 

with  peeresses. 

London,  February  9,  1 876. 

Here  is  what  you  will  find  in  the  Times  this 
morning  if  you  read  Mr.  Disraeli's  speech  at  the 
meeting  last  night ;  **  On  the  20th  of  November, 
the  official  Representative  of  France,  not  the  am- 
bassador, who  was  absent,  but  a  gentleman  whom  we 
know  and  respect  highly,  M.  Gavard,  was  absolutely 
instructed  to  call  on  Lord  Derby,  I  will  not  say  to 
pump  him  (laughter),  but  to  learn  whether  England 
would  submit  to  the  French  company *s  pur- 
chasing.  .  .  .'' 

In  any  event   they  weren't  obliged  to  crown  a 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  291 

poor   devil  of  a   Charge   (V Affaires  if   they  didn't 

want  to. 

London,  February  10,  1876. 

I  found  myself,  at  dinner  to-night,  sitting  near  Mr. 
Corry,^  Mr.  Disraeli's  secretary.  He  promised  to 
transmit  my  gratitude  to  the  minister,  who  will,  he 
said,  appreciate  it  highly.  He  added:  "It  seems 
that  you  have  some  friends  in  the  House,  for,  after 
the  compliment,  Mr.  Disraeli  was  interrupted  by 
cries  of :  *  Hear  !  Hear ! '  '*  I  have  decidedly  missed 
the  biggest  day  of  my  life.     A  plague  on  colds ! 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  of  the  jostling  of  the  M.P.s 
when  they  reached  the  bar.  The  ministry  were 
swept  away  by  the  crowd.  Mr.  Disraeli  found  him- 
self at  the  door,  happy  to  have  preserved  his  hat. 
During  this  time  Dr.  Kenealy  was  in  evidence  out- 
side. Mangin*s  carriage  had  been  permitted  to  come 
nearly  to  Westminster  because  somebody  had 
thought  they  recognized  the  doctor  in  it ;  he  was 
following  it  really  in  a  cab,  which  the  people  drew 
home  on  his  return.     The  electors  of  the  future  ! 

There  was  a  "  spelling  bee  **  (a  game  in  orthography) 
yesterday  at  Lady  Cambermere's,  with  three  judges 
and  prizes.  These  great  big  English  simpletons 
amuse  themselves  with  this  sort  of  thing  tre- 
mendously. Can  you  fancy  Mr.  Lowe,  with  his 
albino  eyes,  standing  up  to  spell,  brais^.  It  seems 
that  the  word  has  been  naturalized. 

London,  March  10,  1876. 
The  sight  of  a  little   Jew  promoting  the  Queen 
1  Baron  Rowton  in  1889, 


292  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1876. 

of  England  and  giving  her  a  second  crown  is  not  to 
be  seen  every  day.^  So  of  course  I  went  yesterday 
to  Parliament.  I  thought  Dizzy  very  weak :  he  did 
not  give  a  single  good  reason,  not  one.  His  refuta- 
tion of  objections  lacked  amplitude,  but  the  trick 
was  well  played.  To  refuse  the  imperial  title  to  the 
Queen,  they  would  have  to  ignore  her  prerogative, 
compromise  the  position  of  the  ministers  in  regard 
to  her,  and  what  is  more  serious,  in  finding  fault 
with  the  title  they  would  seem  to  refuse  to  the 
population  of  India  the  rights  of  citizenship.  Mr. 
Gladstone  replied  with  abundance  and  completeness, 
without,  however,  in  my  opinion  escaping  from  the 
absurdity  which  permeates  the  whole  discussion. 
This  notion  of  making  the  Queen  an  Empress  is  as 
difficult  to  defend  as  to  combat.  On  Dizzy's  part, 
it  is  the  whim  of  an  artist  in  royalty,  of  a  King- 
maker ;  on  the  Queen's  part,  it  is  the  whim  of  a 
sceptred  parvenu;  she  thinks  she  will  be  a  more 
considerable  figure  with  the  title  of  Empress,  and 
that  her  children  will  make  better  marriages.  My 
impression  is  that  they  made  a  great  mistake 
to  lift  the  veil  which  ought  to  cover  the  origin  of 
claims  to  sovereignty.  What  has  been  done  can  be 
undone.  One  doesn't  play  quits  with  matters  of 
that  sort.  Kings  and  Emperors  are  born :  it  is 
dangerous  to  be  specially  created  one.  Decidedly, 
Disraeli  has  made  a  mistake  :  everybody  feels  already 
that  the  thing  is  a  pill ;  and  they  are  not  going  to 
thank  the  ministry  for  making  the  country  swallow 

^  He  refers  to  the  project  of  giving  the  Queen  the  title  of  Era- 
press  of  India. 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  293 

it.  As  the  discussion  was  rather  long,  malcontent 
members  went  to  dinner  to  escape  having  to  vote. 
It  was  once  more  Stafford  Northcote  who  made  the 
best  impression  with  his  air  of  good  sense  and 
straightforwardness.  After  he  sat  down,  murmurs 
began  to  make  themselves  heard,  and  timid  cries  of 
*' Divide,  divide;  '*  and  after  Kenealy  had  spoken 
nobody  would  listen  to  anything.  At  half-past  two 
we  were  shut  in  for  the  voting.  The  Speaker  made 
the  last  call  for  the  *'  noes,'*  and  there  were  none, 
there  was  no  need  to  go  out  into  the  "  lobbies." 
When  they  took  up  other  matters  I  went  home 
and  dressed,  and  then  came  back  again  to  **  Mrs. 
Speaker's.'*  The  House  was  still  in  session.  M.- 
P.s  deliberate,  take  tea,  and  chat,  all  at  the  same 
time  ;  the  bell  warns  them  when  they  must  go  to 
vote.  There  were  a  number  of  girls  there  whom  I 
found  I  knew.  From  the  windows  one  saw  the 
boats  on  the  Thames  glide  by,  noiseless,  lightless, 
mysterious:  it  was  very  picturesque.  I  went  out  at 
midnight  to  dinner. 

London,  March  10,  1876. 

I  saw  the  good  Mme.  Lionel^  yesterday.  She 
has  no  desire  to  make  the  journey  at  this  windy 
season,  and  I  fancy  she  will  give  it  up.  She  told  me 
of  their  majesties'  visits  to  Northumberland.^  I  think 
Easton  Newton  is  the  name  of  the  castle  that  has 
been  rented  for  them.  The  Queen  of  Naples  is  to 
occupy  one  wing.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of 
money  laid  out  on  good  hunters  and  more  are  in 

1  Baroness  Rothschild. 

2  Empress  of  Austria  and  the  Queen  of  Naples, 


294  ^  DIPLOMA  r  IN  LONDON,  [1876. 

demand  at  any  price.  Every  day  you  find  them 
at  the  meet  of  some  hunt  in  the  neighborhood, 
the  Duke  of  Grafton's,  or  Lord  So-and-so's,  etc. 
The  Empress  has  already  fallen  twice,  but  as  she 
has  not  yet  broken  any  bones,  she  is  not  yet  sat- 
isfied. 

To-day  the  Empress  came  back  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  Queen  at  Windsor.  There  was  some  misunder- 
standing at  the  beginning.  The  Queen  could  not 
receive  her  at  the  date  the  Empress  had  fixed,  and 
so  the  Empress  left  without  waiting  for  Her  Majesty's 
day.  It  is  evidently  the  presence  of  so  many  Ma- 
jesties or  Imperial  Highnesses  that  has  turned  the 
Queen's  head.  A  Queen  by  birth,  she  aspires  to  the 
title  of  an  upstart !  The  result  is  deplorable  ;  the 
Ministry  will  never  recover  from  a  success  like  that. 
I  am  much  put  out,  because  when  all  is  said  the 
conservatives  are  our  party  really.  A  mere  com- 
parison of  Granville's  and  Gladstone's  language  with 
that  of  Lord  Derby,  Sahsbury  and  Dizzy's,  make  me 
decidedly  a  Tory  in  this  country. 

When  you  are  not  meeting  Queens,  with  or  with- 
out subjects  here,  you  are  jostling  against  Princes. 
I  reached  Farm  Street^  this  morning,  a  little  before 
the  storm.  There  came  a  large  man  with  a  ferocious 
look,  who  went  straight  to  the  front  bench,  followed 
by  two  aides-de-camp  with  pointed  moustaches, 
waxed  with  Hungarian  wax.  He  made  the  sign  of 
the  cross  again  and  again  at  the  beginning  and  at 
the  close,  but  other  than  that  he  was  not  more  at- 
tentive to  the  mass  than  a  Hon  in  his  cage  would 

1  Church  of  the  Jesuits^ 


tSye.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  ^295 

have  been.     He  stood  up,  made  play  with  his  arms, 

looked  about  whenever  he  felt  inclined,  then  left  as 

he  had  entered,  with  his  aides-de-camp,  who  hastened 

after  him.     He  looked  as  if  he  were  threatening  the 

sky  because  it  rained  on  a  monarch   who   cannot 

even  be  said  to  be  "  fallen.'*     It  was  Don  Carlos. 

His  face  is  handsome  enough,  but  the  expression  is 

hard  and  evil. 

London,  March  14,  1876. 

Sunday's  storm  brought  to  light  the  bitter-sweet 
relations  between  the  Empress^  and  the  Queen,  who 
aspires  to  be  an  Empress.  I  think  I  told  you  of  the 
Empress  having,  on  her  arrival,  proposed  an  hour 
for  her  visit  to  the  Queen,  and  of  the  Queen's  re- 
fusing to  see  her  then,  and  appointing  another  time. 
Diana,  the  huntress,  did  not  wait.  The  breach  was 
to  be  healed  on  Sunday,  but  the  interview  was  very 
short.  Diana  left  without  stopping  for  lunch,  in 
spite  of  the  storm  and  the  hour  of  service.  To  punish 
her  the  heavens  unchained  the  winds  as  against  the 
invincible  **  Armada.'*  The  train  was  stopped  on  the 
way.  Not  to  let  their  mistress  die  of  hunger,  the 
Empress's  people  borrowed  the  station  master's 
luncheon.  She  has  had  no  better  success  with 
Derby.  She  tried  to  make  an  appointment  with  him 
for  Sunday.  With  the  dignity  of  Minister  to  the 
Queen  he  replied  :  "  It  is  not  possible,  I  go  to  the 
country." 

Yesterday  at  the  Club,  I  found  Schouvaloff.  There 
is  always  something  worth  remembering  in  his 
rambling  talk.  It  appears  from  his  account  that 
1  Empress  of  Austria. 


296  A  DIPLOMA  T  tN  LOI\rDOI\r.  [1876. 

Bismarck  has,  from  the  beginning,  contended  for  in- 
tervention in  the  revolted  provinces.  Schouvaloff 
himself  favors  Austro-Russian  intervention.  The 
fantastic  part  of  the  talk  turned  on  the  English  naval 
force  and  the  means  of  overpowering  it. 

London,  March  16,  1876. 

Yesterday,  at  dinner,  I  sat  by  a  very  agreeable 
but  very  obese  lady,  who  asked  me,  when  the  meal 
was  over,  to  help  her  get  up.  ^'  Here,*'  she  said, 
**  you  see  a  queen  of  beauty.*'  It  was  the  Duchess 
of  Somerset,  queen  of  beauty  at  Lord  Eglinton*s 
famous  tournament.  She  is  the  sister  of  Lady 
Dufferin.  You  could  see  that  she  had  been  beauti- 
ful. Her  conversation  was  not  without  interest. 
She  told  me  she  had  sixteen  small  children.  Then 
she  corrected  herself,  and  said  nineteen  ;  she  had 
forgotten  three.  The  Duke  of  Somerset  wore  his 
Star  of  the  Garter.  I  should  have  taken  him  for  a 
substantial  tradesman  if  I  had  not  known  that  he 
publishes  books  in  refutation   of  the  principles  of 

religion. 

London,  March  19,  1876. 

I  have  been  to  an  official  city  banquet.     When 

the  Lord   Mayor  made  an  allusion  to  the  title  of 

Empress,  there   were   cries   of  ^'  Queen !    Queen  !  ** 

Such  a  manifestation  is  very  extraordinary  in  this 

country. 

London,  May  9,  1876. 

Yesterday  I  read  a  curious  history  of  a  fanatic 
"  Orangeman  **  in  the  Parliament  of  1832.  Alone, 
with  the  help  of  one  acolyte,  he  forced  the  House  to 


1^76.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  297 

divide  seventeen  times  on  an  insignificant  bill,  that 
is  to  say,  to  vote,  by  all  the  **  ayes  '*  going  into  one 
room  to  be  counted,  and  all  the  '*  noes  '*  going  into 
another,  with  an  average  expenditure  each  time  of 
some  twenty  minutes.  Between  every  two  *'  divi- 
sions *'  the  wretch  apologized,  but  said  that  he  could 
not  do  otherwise,  having  sworn  to  hinder  the  bill  by 
all  means  in  his  power.  Then  Palmerston  and 
some  others  tried  to  argue  with  him  on  his  *'  case 
of  conscience  '*  and  to  prove  to  him  that  he  might, 
without  disloyalty  to  his  oath,  let  the  House  go  to 
bed  at  a  reasonable  hour.  He  would  not  hear  to  it. 
Finally,  after  the  seventeenth  division,  the  bill  was 
carried,  and  the  House  adjourned  at  four  o'clock — in 
the  morning.  The  terrible  man  apologized  once 
more  and  promised  "  never  to  do  so  any  more.'* 
You  fancy  the  House  was  put  out  with  him  ?  Not 
in  the  least.  The  incident  was  the  origin  of  his 
popularity.  There  you  have  an  Englishman  for  all 
the  world — among  Englishmen  !  Read  also  a  very 
haughty  letter  of  Macaulay  to  the  electors  of 
Leeds,  soliciting  their  votes.  He  will  have  no  com- 
merce with  the  mouthpiece  theory  of  representation  ; 
he  approves  of  the  principle  of  division  of  labor  ; 
says  you  ought  to  choose  a  legislator  as  you  do  a 
physician,  and  your  choice  once  made,  to  rely  on  his 
judgment  because,  in  the  matter  in  hand,  he  knows 
better  than  you. 

Schouvaloff  told  me  a  capital  saying  by  a  Prussian 
general  to  justify  flogging  his  soldiers.  ^'  What  will 
you  have  ?  Die  Canaille  haben  studirt ''  (The 
blackguards  have  been  to  school !). 


298  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1876. 

London,  May  13,  1876. 

"Prussia  House." — The  secretaries  were  not  pow- 
dered, but  wore  breeches.  They  waited  on  the 
Empress  Augusta.  We  were  penned  up  in  a  draw- 
ing-room and  I  cooked  in  my  juice  (as  we  elegantly 
express  it)  all  evening ;  I  scarcely  saw  more  than 
the  backs  of  my  colleagues,  or  their  wives,  crowding 
to  exchange  a  look  or  word  with  her  Highness.  My 
modest  reserve  did  not  cost  me  much  as  you  may 
imagine ;  I  could  contemplate  Augusta*s  fabulous 
diamonds  in  silence.  They  make  one  feel  that  they 
must  belong  to  the  House  of  Hanover.  For  the 
rest  she  was  painted  and  powdered,  and  tricked  out 
with  a  black  wig  and  beautiful  speeches :  '*  These 
chairs  seem  to  reproach  you,  ladies,  for  not  being 
seated.'*  That  is  how  one  says:  ''  Sit  down,''  in  the 
Prussian  court.  The  ladies  took  good  care  not  to 
profit  by  the  invitation.  There  was  a  whole  string 
of  phrases  quite  as  simple  and  profound. 

She  asked  Beust  his  opinion  of  the  exposition, 
after  telling  him  what  she  thought  of  it  herself  ;  he 
said  it  was  like  a  promenade  concert  minus  the  music. 
He  is  the  only  one  who  knows  how  to  come  off 
with  honor ;  he  makes  up  for  his  obsequiousness  by 
a  certain  air  of  making  game  of  their  Majesties.  I 
found  my  very  young  friend  Maud  (Cecil)  again; 
she  grows  beautiful.  That  is  the  one  incident  I 
treasure  of  the  evening. 

I  live,  you  see,  in  a  round  of  pleasures.  It  is  a 
shameful  existence  for  a  man  of  my  age :  so  much 
the  more  so  that  one  loses  the  thread  of  one's  se- 
rious work.     I  do  nothing  and  I  learn  nothing.  .  .  • 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  299 

London,  Lockinge-House, 
October  28,  1876.1 

Here  are  the  dramatis  personce :  Loyd  Lindsay 
and  his  sweet  young  wife,  always  with  her  little  air  of 
melancholy ;  Mrs.  Holford  and  the  beautiful  Alice ; 
her  mother  and  Lady  Mary  Crawford,  who  are  on 
their  way  to  Italy  ;  Lady  Alice  Ayre  and  her  hus- 
band ;  Morley  ^  and  his  young  wife,  also  on  their 
way  to  Italy ;  and  Lord  Oberstone  who  remains  in 
England.  That  is  the  list  of  the  family  simply,  and 
I  breathe  happy  in  their  midst.  Nothing  happened 
on  the  way,  and  I  saw  nothing  except  a  treeless 
landscape  hidden  in  fog,  and  a  charmingly  rustic 
village. 

I  reached  the  house  at  nightfall.  The  road  dis- 
appeared beneath  great  trees  of  which  I  could  see 
no  more  than  the  trunks  ;  bright  lights  reflected 
on  the  water  reached  me  through  the  darkness. 
Finally  we  made  a  turn  and  I  found  myself  in  front 
of  what  I  took  at  first  for  a  large  factory  with  every 
window  lighted  and  reflected  in  a  basin.  I  was  mis- 
taken ;  it  was  the  house  of  which  I  could  distin- 
guish nothing.  First  we  entered  the  hall ;  it  is 
two  stories  high,  all  in  wood,  and  decorated  with 
beautiful  tapestries.  While  I  was  talking  with 
Colonel  Lindsay,  I  saw  a  face  at  the  window  on  the 
second  floor — or  rather  I  heard  the  rustling  of  robes 
on  the  gallery  over  our  heads.  The  beautiful  Alice 
affirms  that  the  place  is  a  bad  one  for  the  honey- 

1  Residence  of  Colonel  Loyd  Lindsay,  now  Lord  Wantage. 

2  Earl  Morley,  who  married  Miss  Holford. 


300  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1876. 

moons,  because  everything  can  be  seen  and  heard 
from  above.  Even  while  I  was  talking,  I  descried 
a  large  Murillo,  the  counterpart  of  the  Assumption. 
The  Virgin  and  the  Child  had  been  cut  out  by 
the  monks  to  save  them  from  the  French,  but 
not  from  the  English,  who  bought  the  piece  and 
sold  it  to  Lord  Oberstone.  The  drapery  of  the 
Angel  or  rather  of  Love,  which  formed  the  bottom 
of  the  picture,  was  left.  They  did  not  escape  to 
Marshal  Soult.  After  long  years  of  waiting  the 
second  piece  joined  the  first,  and  they  were  put 
together  without  showing.  I  must  wait  till  day- 
light to  judge  the  picture  and  give  you  an  account 
of  all  I  have  not  seen  this  evening. 

Friday  Morning,  October  29,  1876. 

This  morning  I  began  to  reconnoitre.  I  said  yes- 
terday that  the  house  resembled  a  large  factory 
illuminated  by  a  thousand  fires ;  the  truth  is  that 
the  design — the  architecture  is  nothing  to  speak  of, 
but  the  interior  is  perfect.  The  gardens  are  perfect 
in  their  kind,  with  little  cascades  every  few  feet  ; 
the  park  is  Woburn  or  Hatfield  over  again,  with  a 
surface  more  diversified,  indeed,  but  exemplifying 
everywhere  the  sort  of  artificial  nature  they  go  in 
for  here,  the  poverty  of  invention,  the  perpetual 
presence  of  the  hand  of  man.  For  the  rest,  the 
total  effect  is  rich,  opulent,  in  a  supreme  degree ; 
there  are  swans  on  the  water,  the  herds  of  cattle 
in  the  meadows,  vegetable  gardens  that  I  drove 
through,  a  second  park  beyond  the  first,  with  a 
country  house  in  it  given  up  to  Colonel  Lindsay, 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN-  LONDON",  30I 

father  of  the  beautiful  Violet ;  ^  two  villages,  one  at 
each  extremity  of  the  park,  entirely  made  by  Loyd 
Lindsay,  regular  Trianon-  villages ;  some  schools 
that  he  maintains  without  aid  from  the  state,  and 
his  flag  floating  over  his  possessions  at  the  top  of  a 
flag-staff  as  big  as  a  mast.  Here  is  one  who  is 
*' called'*  to  inhabit  the  earth  ;  in  especial  when  he 
has  a  father-in-law  who  owns  a  hundred  times  as 
much. 

Yes,  but  they  have  no  children,  and  everyone  is 
curious  to  know  to  whom  they  will  leave  their 
possessions.  If  you  could  have  seen  the  joy  in 
Mrs.  Holford*s  face  when  she  told  me  to-day  that 
she  would  soon  be  a  grandmother. 

I  shall  leave  at  one  o'clock  and  will  be  in  London 
at  four  and  at  Gunnersbury  for  dinner.  It  may 
seem  jolly  to  knock  about  in  this  way,  but  I  would 
rather  stay  in  one  place ;  I  never  knew  such  a 
madman  as  I  am  to  be  always  leaving  the  place 
where  I  am  happiest. 

Gunnersbury  Acton,*  October  30,  1876. 

Saturday  Night.  Here  I  am  at  Gunnersbury. 
The  material  part  of  it,  the  establishment,  is  supe- 
rior to  any  other  I  know.  It  makes  one  positively 
happy,  it  is  so  comfortable.  It  is  ideal,  the  triumph 
of  well-being.  Fancy  a  room  in  which  you  should 
find  everything ;  a  library  in  three  languages,  and 
all  sorts  of  "  cabinets."  But  the  thing  that  pleases 
me  more  than    the  comfort  is  the  cordiality  with 

1  Now  Marchioness  of  Granby. 

2  Residence  of  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild. 


302  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON-,  [1876. 

which  the  husband  and  wife  welcomed  me.     They 

apologized    for  inviting  me,  without  other  guests 

than  their  children.     It  is  precisely  this  intimacy 

that  warmed  and  touched  me.     What  will  they  do 

to-morrow  to  entertain  me  ?     Yesterday,  under  the 

roof    of   Lord    Overstone,   to-day,    under    that    of 

Rothschild  !     The  latter  tells  me  that  Overstone  is 

the  richest  man  in  the  world  :  Overstone  has,  he 

said,  about  eight  millions  a  yean     I  wanted  to  ask  : 

^^  And  you?" 

Sunday. 

This  morning  we  visited  the  beautiful  cedars, 
the  ponds  and  the  ducks.  I  was  told  a  story  of 
four  swans  that  were  driven  away  from  one  pond 
after  another  by  the  older  occupants.  They  kept 
together  and  moved  on  till  they  should  find  a  place 
where  they  would  be  allowed  to  stay.  Finally,  they 
came  here  ;  but  they  stir  up  the  bottom — ill-smell- 
ing exhalations  from  it  seem  to  be  complained  of, 
and  this  morning  I  found  a  gardener  seriously  engaged 
in  perfuming  the  pond  with  violet  water.  At  eleven 
o'clock  a  brougham  took  me  to  mass  at  Chiswick  ; 
then  I  had  a  stroll  with  the  Baron  in  his  little  car- 
riage. They  wanted  to  take  me  to  see  the  Duchess 
of  Cleveland,  but  I  refused. 

GUNNERSBURY,  October  31,  1876. 

We  had  a  reunion  here  yesterday,  of  all  the 
powers  of  England  ;  capital  was  represented  by  our 
host ;  the  government  by  Beaconsfield  ;  the  press  by 
Delane ;  the  opposition,  by  Villers  ;  and  the  popu- 
lace by  Menabrea,  etc.     It  is  true  that  the  powers 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  303 

have  talked  very  little  except  to  each  other.  At 
sight  of  the  Premier^  Delane  who  has,  of  late,  not 
spared  him  especially,  retired  into  another  drawing- 
room  ;  but  the  Premier  followed,  and  I  fancy  we 
shall  see  the  result  of  the  conference  in  to-morrow's 
Times, 

I  know,  from  the  Baron,  that  Dizzy  is  well  satis- 
fied, that  the  armistice  is  accepted,  and  that  he  has 
no  doubt  that  peace  will  be  preserved.  What  is 
certain  is,  that  Rothschild  seems  to  me  to  be  inclined 
to  send  orders  to  all  the  Rothschilderies  in  Europe. 

Am  back  in  town.  L.  de  Rothschild  brought 
me  back  in  his  phaeton.  All  the  omnibus-drivers 
saluted  us.  I  hear  that  he  gives  them  an  annual 
dinner.     Good  way  not  to  be  impeded  on  the  road. 

London,  November  2,  1876. 
Lord  Salisbury  came  into  the  club  and  went 
silently  and  alone  to  his  corner.  I  read  to  him  the 
Due  de  Broglie's  reply  to  his  compliments.  He 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  keep  it,  and  this  morning  I 
got  it  back  with  the  following  note. 

"  November  3,  1876, 

"  India  Office. 
''My  Dear  Monsieur  Gavard  : 

"  I  did  not  find  you  at  the  Athenaeum  to  thank  you 
for  permitting  me  to  read  this  interesting  letter  from 
M.  the  Due  de  Broglie.  It  has  given  me  much  to 
think  of.  What  is  called  free  thought  in  France  is 
truly  a  mysterious  and  terrible  phenomenon. 

**  You  must  not  judge  from  the  newspapers  here, 
and  in  especial  not  from  the  Times^  of  what  British 


304  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1876. 

opinion  really  is  on  affairs  in  France.  There  is  a 
lively  sympathy  felt  here  for  the  efforts  and  desper- 
ate struggles  of  the  conservatives. 

*'  Believe,  my  dear  Monsieur  Gavard,  in  my  devoted 
friendship. 

"  Salisbury." 

(The  letter  is  in  French.) 

London,  November  8,  1876. 

Salisbury  at  Constantinople  !  ^  I  was  not  far  from 
the  mark  yesterday  ;  I  ought  to  add  even  that  I  was 
more  confident  really  than  I  appeared.  The  appoint- 
ment will  not  be  very  agreeable  to  Russia.  It  is  in  the 
interests  of  the  Tory  programme  that  he  goes.  It  is 
mistrust  of  Russia,  almost  the  desire  to  come  to  blows 
with  her,  if  it  can  be  done  within  range  of  the  fleet, 
and  occupation  of  the  Bosphorus  at  the  first  signal. 
As  for  Egypt,  England  may  take  her  time  if  she 
holds  Constantinople.  Salisbury  is  certainly  the 
man  to  hold  Ignatieff  in  check.  But  whom  are  we 
to  send  ?  Absolutely  the  Due  de  Broglie  is  the  only 
one  possible. 

There  are  two  persons  in  Salisbury  :  the  simple, 

charming  gentleman  that  every  one  finds  when  they 

talk  to  him  in   tete-k-tete,  and  the  violent,  bitter 

orator,  one  listens  to  in  every  assembly  in  which  he 

speaks.     Which  of  the  two  will  sit  at  the  Conference 

in  Constantinople  ? 

London,  December  17,  1876. 

Have  you  not  heard  me  jokingly  suggest  that  in- 

1  Lord  Salisbury  was  sent  to  Constantinople  as   First  Plenipoten- 
tiary at  the  conference  charged  to  revise  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano, 


1876.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  305 

stead  of  the  disestablishment  of  the  English  Church, 
Gladstone  and  others  would  do  better  to  disestablish 
the  double  consonants  that  are  not  pronounced  in 
English,  the  entire  syllables  that  are  swallowed  in 
the  speaker*s  haste  to  reach  the  accented  ones. 
The  last  London  school  board  has  seriously  called 
on  all  the  other  school  boards  to  join  it  in  petition- 
ing Parliament,  inasmuch  as  it  regulates  weights 
and  measures,  to  reform  English  orthography.  It 
is  one  more  symptom  of  the  centralizing  movement 
which  shows  itself  here,  and  which  tends  to  bring 
England  down  to  our  political  level. 

Solvyns  capped  my  suggestion  on  the  disestab- 
lishment of  the  double  consonants  with  a  German 
story.  Some  one  asked  in  Germany  the  name  of 
an  English  traveller  and  the  reply  was  :  ^'  Er  heisst 
Schmidt  aber  das  schreibt  sich  Douglas.'*  (He  says 
his  name  is  Smith  but  he  writes  it  Douglas.) 
20 


3o6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1877. 


THE  YEAR  1877. 
Bitract0  trom  tbe  Correspondence* 

London,  January  22,  1877. 

Yesterday  I  dined  with  the  Dean  ^  and  his  sister — 
the  one  who  has  been  converted  to  Catholicism.  It 
came  about  by  her  seeing  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at 
their  work  in  the  Crimea.  It  seems  that  these 
sainted  sisters  did  all  the  hard  work  while  Miss 
Nightingale  reserved  herself  for  the  notabilities  who 
were  wounded  and  would  advertise  her. 

Near  me  ^  as  I  write,  I  see  the  cardinal  in  an  arm- 
chair, reading  a  magazine ;  Darwin,  who  does  not 
especially  resemble  an  ape  ;  two  or  three  old  men 
who  swore  ;  a  little  farther  on  Emly,  who  laughs  to 
himself  while  reading  a  satirical  life  of  Dizzy;  near 
the  other  fireplace,  the  director  of  the  National 
Gallery  ;  Leighton,  their  only  painter,  writing  at  one 
of  the  tables ;  and  a  card-party  is  going  on  in  the 
other  room  between  Hayward,  Solvyns,  Trollope  and 
Forster.  I  leave  the  bishops  whom  I  do  not  know 
unnamed.  As  for  myself,  I  am  having  a  cup  of  tea 
at  my  writing-table.  It  sets  me  up  well  when  I 
forget  to   breakfast.  .  .  .  There   is  Murchison,  the 

1  Stanley,  Dean  of  Westminster,  2  At  the  Athenaeum, 


I877-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  307 

physician,    crossing   the   hall  ;     there  poor  Delane, 

who    creeps   along,    looking    very    unlike    himself, 

toward   an  arm-chair  ;    and  Wade,  just  back  from 

China.     But  I  shall  never  have  done  if  I  do  not  seal 

this  up. 

London,  February  2,  1877. 

Last  evening  Schouvaloff  read  me  his  dispatch 
giving  an  account  of  his  talk  with  Lord  Derby. 
Lord  Derby  had  set  forth  England's  present  atti- 
tude. I  went  home  and  wrote  out  what  I  had 
heard  and  sent  it  to  Lord  Derby,  saying  that  I  had 
just  bought  it  for  one  hundred  pounds.  He  sent  it 
back  immediately  with  two  corrections  in  his  own 
hand,  thus  testifying  to  the  perfect  exactness  of  the 
rest.  .  .  . 

The  dinner  at  Reeve's  was  interesting.  Wade, 
who  has  just  returned  from  a  seven  years'  residence 
in  China,  fairly  took  me  a  trip  through  China — 
answered  all  my  questions.  It  is  the  system  of 
education  that  puts  a  damper  on  the  masses  there. 
They  exhaust  all  their  faculties  in  learning  the 
books  of  Confucius  ;  after  which  they  can  do  no 
more ;  and  when  they  ought  to  reason,  they  re- 
member. For  the  rest  we  shall  see  them  over- 
run the  earth  with  cheap  labor  and  coal.  A 
Peter  the  Great  is  needed,  simply,  to  put  down 
their  customs  and  prejudices,  and  to  launch  their 
two  hundred  or  four  hundred  millions  of  human 
beings  on  the  way  to  progress.  Motley  held  forth 
on  the  other  side  without  much  tact  on  the  justice 
of  the  return  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  Germany ;  Vil- 
liers  opposed  him.     I  seemed  not  to  be  listening, 


3o8  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  [1877. 

but  I  thanked  him  afterwards.     He  is  Clarendon's 

brother. 

There  was   also   a  certain  Grant    Duff   there,  a 

political  personage,  who  gives  away  his  works  bound 

in  full  leather. 

London,  February  21,  1877. 

Last  night  I  reached  Parliament  at  five  o'clock 
and  left  at  midnight.  The  speeches  are  always 
pretty  much  the  same,  and  I  do  not  see  that  one  is 
any  further  along  at  the  end  than  at  the  beginning. 
Discussions  they  are  not — the  speakers  never  cross 
swords.  Somebody  fires  off  a  speech,  early  in  the 
evening,  aimed  at  a  member  of  the  party  opposite, 
who  in  turn  replies — but  not  to  the  man  who  has 
attacked  him.  When  one  member  has  finished 
speaking  he  may  leave  his  seat,  and  that  is  precisely 
what  he  does,  while  his  opponent  is  dressing  him 
down.  I  heard  Salisbury,  who  is  the  best  speaker 
of  them  all ;  his  language  is  effective  and  perfectly 
natural,  and  imbued  with  passion.  Beaconsfield, 
on  the  contrary,  is  at  the  farthest  remove  from 
naturalness  ;  he  has  nothing  but  art,  possesses  an 
extreme  address,  plays  with  difficulties — without 
the  least  scruple  in  regard  to  fact  or  veracity.  He 
entertained  me  highly  at  first  by  the  daring  flights, 
in  which  he  spoke  successively  of  France  and  of 
Germany,  and  recalled  the  war  of  1870  and  the 
conquest  of  Prussia  in  iZoy.h propos  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  integrity  and  independence  of  nations.  One 
did  not  know  whether  to  laugh  or  to  cry.  Then  he 
struck  into  his  Guildhall  speech,  changing  his  tone 
and  his  accent  and  playing  the  lamb.     To  me,  who 


1877]  A  DIPLOMA T  IN  LONDON, 


309 


saw  him  as  lion  in  the  City  this  turn  was  particularly 
amusing. 

Toward  ten  o'clock  I  went  in  search  of  Schouva- 
loff  whom  I  found  cooHng  his  heels  at  the  foot  of 
the  throne  ;  I  brought  him  back  into  the  gallery 
and  translated  for  him  as  well  as  I  could  the  strik- 
ing passages.  For  my  pains,  he  confided  to  me  a 
conversation  of  the  utmost  importance  that  he  has 
just  had  with  Beaconsfield. 

London,  February  22,  1877. 

Banquet  at  the  chamber  of  commerce !  The 
meeting  possessed  a  more  important  character  than 
I  had  dared  to  hope.  Salisbury  spoke  with  much 
charm  and  in  the  account  he  gave  of  his  mission  he 
gave  us  to  understand  what  actually  took  place, — 
the  matter  that  Schouvaloff  spoke  to  me  about  yes- 
terday. Then  there  was  an  exchange  of  compli- 
ments and  polite  speeches  between  Salisbury  and 
Forster.  You  ought  to  read  the  two  speeches, 
which  are  models  in  their  kind.  Be  it  known  in 
France  that  these  are  the  two  principal  orators  in 
England,  and  belong  to  the  opposite  extremes  of 
political  opinion  :  the  Commoner  almost  a  radical 
and  the  Marquis  an  ultra  Tory.  It  was  charming — 
in  such  good  taste  ;  always  in  the  tone  of  pleasantry 
and  always  very  earnest  at  bottom.  Forster's  speech, 
as  it  happened,  took  a  turn  that  for  me  was  serious. 
He  brought  me  in  a  sense  into  the  discussion — he 
began  to  praise  France,  spoke  with  admiration  of 
her  energy,  her  patience,  her  self-possession,  and 
emphasized  each  word  by  looking  at   nie.     Terrpr 


3IO  A  DIPLOMAT  TN  LONDON.  [1877. 

took  possession  of  me ;  I  had  to  reply,  but,  if  I 
should  say  one  word  on  politics,  I  should  be  lost ; 
if  I  made  a  false  step,  I  could  not  recover  it.  There 
was  no  time  for  reflection,  and  good-natured  neigh- 
bors were  backing  me  up  for  all  sorts  of  subjects. 
At  last  the  moment  came  for  me  to  get  up.  Salis- 
bury said  he  anticipated  much  pleasure  in  listening 
to  me.  I  pulled  through  somehow — patched  it  up. 
Salisbury  is  very  cordial.  Did  I  tell  you  that  I 
sent  him  this  morning  an  important  correction  of 
his  Tuesday's  speech  ?  I  had  not  understood  it  as 
the  newspapers  seem  to  have  done,  and  I  was  right. 
We  talked  of  his  interviews  at  Berlin  with  Bis- 
marck ;  for  an  hour  and  a  half  he  said  the  Chancellor 
talked  with  a  raciness,  a  crudity,  a  wit,  a  grossness, 
unparalleled,  but  every  word  bore  the  stamp  of  a 
superior  man.  Meanwhile  he  said  nothing  about 
what  he  had  most  at  heart,  he  neither  spoke  of 
France  nor  of  the  Pope.  At  which  of  them  is  he 
aiming?  He  made  indirect  offers  after  the  Biarritz 
fashion  to  all  comers,  even  to  England,  to  whom  he 
tendered  Egypt  on  her  restoring  to  Russia  the 
mouths  of  the  Danube.  Will  every  one  be  able  to 
resist  the  bait  ?  Germany  caused  the  conference  to 
fall  through  by  dint  of  persuading  the  Turks  that 
the  Russian  army  could  not  hold  the  field.  "  But 
in  the  last  resort,''  I  asked,  *'  if  he  succeeds  in  his 
attempt,  shall  we  have  nothing  but  right  on  our 
side?"  *' You  are  beyond  reproach,"  he  replied. 
"  And  you  know  to  which  side  my  sympathies  lean  ; 
but  it  will  not  be  the  government  here  that  will 
decide  the  matter,  it  will  be  public  opinion.     You 


1877-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  31 1 

have  the  same  means  of  knowing  it  that  I  have; 
look  to  it  for  your  information."  That  is  precisely 
what  I  myself  keep  repeating. 

London,  April  8,  I877. 

Solvyns  has  just  spent  three  charming  days  in  the 

country  with  Leveson  Gower,  brother  of  Lady  Geor- 

gina.     Gladstone  arrived,  while  he  was  there,  with 

his  box,  his  umbrella  and  his  axe  ;  yes,  his  axe,  to  fell 

trees  with.     Happily  he  spared   the   cedars  in  the 

park ;  they  handed  him  over  to  a  neighboring  forest. 

As   for  the    rest,  the    host's  talk  was    marvellous, 

inexhaustible,  incomparably  various  and  interesting 

At  midnight  last  night  the  walking-match  which  has 

been  going  on  for  six  days  and  nights  came  to  an 

end.     It  is  an  exhibition  of  brutality  simply,  and 

people  here  would  risks  their  neck  to  see  it.     It  is 

true  that  they  hoped  to  see  at  least  one  of  them 

expire  before  the  end. 

London,  May  20,  1877. 

Yesterday  at  the  club  there  was  a  ballot  taken — 
it  was  very  funny.  I  never  before  took  part  in 
such  a  ceremony.  The  candidate  was  discussed. 
Nobody  said  a  word  against  him,  quite  the  contrary. 
There  were  only  nine  of  us  present ;  we  voted,  and 
the  candidate  was  black-balled.  Everybody  looked 
at  everybody  else  ;  and  I  did  not  confess  that  I  had 
noticed  who  had  put  in  the  fatal  ball. 

I  spent  two  hours  yesterday  at  Burlington.  It 
reconciled  me  a  little  to  our  Exposition.  If  there  is 
too  much  of  the  nude  with  us,  there  is  not  a  bit 
here — not  a  serious  picture,  not  a  genuine  attempt  j 


312  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  [1877. 

design,  style  are  absolutely  lacking.  Such  paint- 
ing really  is  not  worth  while.  Nothing  can  equal 
the  puerility  of  the  subjects,  except  the  naive  ab- 
surdity of  the  public,  who  languish  before  them 
with  admiration.  It  was  a  holiday  and  the  crowd 
was  enormous  ;  not  a  shop-girl  out  for  the  day  from 
behind  her  counter  but  was  there,  jotting  down 
items  in  her  note-book. 

One  picture  represents  a  gigantic  gun,  standing 
bolt  upright,  a  shako,  a  haversack,  a  sword  ;  the 
title  is :  **  The  guard  dies  and  does  not  surrender !  " 
It  is  by  the  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland. 

London,  May  27,  1877. 

Had  a  charming  time  yesterday  from  ten  in  the 
morning  till  nine  at  night  out  in  the  open  air  under 
a  mild  sun ;  listening  to  the  cadenced  fall  of  the 
horses*  hoofs  upon  the  road  for  three  and  four  hours 
at  a  stretch.  My  old  friend,  Henry  Lacaze,  could 
not  have  driven  more  sedately  and  slowly  ;  but  a 
truce  to  regrets  when  one  is  looking  out  on  the 
English  landscape  from  the  roof  of  a  coach.  Once 
beyond  the  London  streets,  the  country  is  one 
great  unbroken  park,  except  the  large  villages,  till 
you  reach  Waterford.  I  cried  out  in  admiration, 
and  secretly  anticipated  that  we  should  find  the 
Country  of  Brett  ^  situated  between  a  public  house 
and  a  brothel ;  but  be  assured,  it  is  a  bit  of  meadow 
hidden  between  the  parks  of  Lord  Clarendon  and 
Lord  Essex — two  considerable  domains  that  have 
come  down  undisturbed  from  King  Harold's  time, 
1  Sir  R.  H.  Brett,  Judge  of  Appeals. 


1877.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  313 

and  that  nobody  will  interfere  with  them  till  the 
end  of  the  world,  or  till  the  coming  of  universal 
suffrage  in  this  country.  There  was  nothing  in  sight 
but  verdure  and  trees,  and  beyond,  a  canal  with 
boats  on  it  passing  silently,  and  a  river.  The  current 
was  swift,  the  water  clear,  the  bottom  covered 
with  reeds,  and  the  banks  shaded  by  trees  dating 
from  before  the  flood.  One  could  spend  one*s  life 
watching  it  flow,  and  nobody  to  see  one  but  the 
birds,  the  rabbits,  and  the  trout.  We  took  a  stroll 
in  Essex  Park,  and  came  out,  by  an  avenue  of 
centenary  beeches,  half  as  broad  again  as  a  boule- 
vard, upon  an  old  Tudor  Manor.  In  one  place  we 
stumbled  upon  some  archery  practice,  in  another 
upon  a  cricket  match  among  the  people  of  Waterford ; 
practically  the  park  is  theirs,  except  that  they  are 
not  called  upon  to  take  care  of  it.  We  returned 
through  Clarendon  Park,  and  saw  another  antique 
manor  fitted  up,  however,  with  all  modern  conveni- 
ences. Here  and  there  we  found  a  charming  cottage 
for  some  younger  son.  As  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  if  the  neighboring  lord  is  not  gruesome  and 
denies  them  admission  to  his  park  they  have  the 
high-road  to  stroll  in,  which  is  not,  thank  God, 
exactly  a  high-road  for  the  traveller  with  a  taste 
for  the  picturesque.  It  is  a  narrow  way  bordered 
on  either  side  with  beautiful  trees  which  belong 
to  the  landlord  and  of  which  he  disposes  at  his  will. 
The  public  have  permission,  to  walk  on  it  and  keep 
it  up, — that  is  all. 

But  let  us  go  back  to  our  one-story  villa,  opening 
on  a  carpet  of  grass  which  stretches  away  beyond  a 


314  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN-  LONDON,  [1877. 

vegetable  garden  with  apple  trees  in  bloom  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  I  thought  I  had  never 
seen  anything  so  beautiful.  What  ravishing  flow- 
ers !  what  combination  of  pink  and  white !  We 
went  boating,  too,  on  the  canal.  And  finally 
home  again  behind  our  four  chestnuts.  Our  coach- 
man seemed  to  lose  caste  a  little  when  he  was 
not  on  his  box.  He  has  twelve  chestnuts  alike 
and  seventy-five  mares  on  his  estate.  The  estate 
used  to  bring  his  father  an  income  of  1,200,000 
francs:  but  his  father  managed  it  injudiciously  and  it 
now  brings  in  no  more  than  300,000.  It  is  true  that 
the  son  has  other  resources  besides,  but  he  too  has 
committed  his  little  follies ;  among  others  he  mar- 
ried a  nobody  with  whom  he  does  not  live,  and  as 
he  is  Catholic  he  cannot  get  a  divorce — worse  luck ! 
This  original,  for  all  his  hundred  horses,  inhabits  a 
hole  in  Manchester  Street.  I  would  not  live  there 
twenty-four  hours.  He  owns,  however,  castle  after 
castle. 

London,  June  2,  1877. 

Had  a  conversation  with  Salisbury.  He  is  uneasy 
and  believes  that  we  shall  be  attacked  before  winter. 
Nothing  could  be  more  legitimate  than  the  dissolu- 
tion,^ but,  to  manage  a  democracy,  it  is  not  good  to 
have  been  reared  among  constitutional  traditions. 
.  .  .  England  is  letting  things  take  their  own 
course  in  the  East  the  better  to  stand  on  guard  in 
the  West.  Will  the  Russians  know  where  to  stop  ? 
Won't  the  hand  that   forced  them  into  war,  force 

*  In  France, 


1877.]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  315 

them  into  some  other  imprudence?     Will  they  be 
contented  with  what  is  given  them  ? 

London,  June  4,  1877. 

The  dinner  ^  yesterday  was  indeed  charming.  They 
have  a  beautiful  house  fronting  on  Sloane  Square ; 
the  dining-room  is  in  the  back,  opening  on  a  paved 
terrace,  with  a  background  of  large  trees.  I  was 
between  Leighton  and  Lord  Granville,  then  there 
was  Alma  Tadema,  Barington,  Chamberlain  to  the 
Queen,  a  poet,  and,  of  course  a  reporter  for  the 
Times,  and  finally  Martino,  all  of  them  at  the  house 
of  the  champion  of  radicalism.  The  dinner  was  very 
good — asparagus  as  large  as  the  trees,  a  whole  forest 
of  it,  and  strawberries  to  correspond.  While  we 
talked  and  ate,  the  stars  came  out,  and  we  could  see 
them,  but  could  hardly  realize  that  it  was  night,  the 
weather  was  so  mild.  Unfortunately,  I  could  not 
follow  all  the  conversation  back  and  forth.  The 
most  entertaining  bit  for  me  was  my  discussion  with 
Leighton  about  the  Nocturnes  in  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery.  I  made  him  talk  in  all  languages,  but  re- 
served my  own  as  a  weapon  of  attack,  which  flattered, 
singularly  enough,  his  self-love  at  the  cost  of  the 
cause  he  was  defending.  Do  not  forget  that  our 
amiable  host  went  to  Leipzig  to  cremate  the  young 
wife  who  received  me  so  graciously  when  I  was  here 
the  first  time.  It  embarrassed  me  for  some  time, 
but  I  do  not  make  a  point  of  being  more  faithful  to 
the  memory  of  dead  and  incinerated  wives  than  their 
own  husbands  are. 

1  At  Sir  Charles  Dilke*s. 


3l6  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1877* 

London,  October  28,  1877. 
Last  night  I  was  going  to  sleep  with  great  diffi- 
culty about  one  o'clock,  when  there  was  a  bang,  bang ! 
bang,  bang,  bang!  It  was  like  the  knocking  at  the 
gate  in  Macbeth.  ^^  Good,"  I  thought,  **  it  is  only 
a  telegram  ;  they  will  drop  it  into  the  box,  I  will 
wait  until  to-morrow  morning."  But  the  banging 
continued.  I  went  to  my  window  and  saw  a  police- 
man knocking  at  a  neighboring  house.  For  half  an 
hour  this  noise  continued  with  the  same  vigor. 
Everybody  in  the  neighborhood  must,  I  was  sure, 
have  been  aroused.  Finally  I  lost  my  patience  and 
went  downstairs.  ''  What  is  the  row  ?  "  '*  A  shutter 
is  open  in  the  next  house  on  the  street  floor."  ^'  But 
the  house  is  empty."  "  That  makes  no  difference, 
the  shutters  ought  to  be  shut."  And  they  went  on 
knocking  vainly  at  the  door.  I  am  sure  that  it  is 
only  in  England  that  an  entire  street  could  be 
wakened  because  of  an  open  shutter. 

Hatfield,  November  6,  1877. 

Here  I  am,  after  three  years'  absence,  back  at 
Hatfield,  only  I  have  the  Hornbeam  instead  of  the 
Hazel  room.  It  is  a  little  nearer  the  sky;  all  the 
other  floors  are  taken  by  the  representatives  of  the 
great  powers.  I  made  the  journey  with  the  Marquis 
of  Salisbury,  reached  the  station  at  the  last  minute 
with  Schouvaloff  and  his  wife,  who  arrived  after  the 
last  minute.  The  train  was  already  moving,  and  I 
had  to  lend  "  Russia  "  a  hand  or  they  would  have 
been  left.  What  an  amount  of  light  and  space  for 
so  few  people  !     That  was  my  first  impression.     My 


1877  ]  ^  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON,  3 1 7 

second  was  to  reflect  on  what  a  small  creature  I  am, 
considering  the  associations  and  the  splendors  I 
enjoy.  We  arrived  at  night.  All  the  windows  were 
illuminated — that  is  enough  to  give  you  an  idea  of 
the  grandeur.  Tea  was  served.  Odo  Russell  and 
his  wife  formed  the  third  couple  of  Ambassadors. 
**  Eat  and  dawdle,  dawdle  and  eat,'*  is  the  order  of 
the  day ;  so  much  so  that  my  letter  has  been  inter- 
rupted by  it  twenty  times.  It  rains  and  there  is  a 
strong  wind,  but  that  makes  no  difference.  They 
have  played  lawn  tennis  just  the  same  all  morning. 
It  is  all  as  innocent  as  that.  You  go  to  the  tennis 
court,  where  a  man  awaits  you  with  costume  ad  hoc  \ 
you  return  for  luncheon,  and  then  you  have  a  choice 
between  horseback-riding,  walking,  a  visit  to  the 
rabbits  or  to  the  schools.     I'm  off  to  the  schools. 

Tuesday  evening,  November  7,  1877. 

My  letter  was  interrupted  by  a  drive.  The  visit 
to  the  schools  was  put  off  till  to-morrow,  and  a  party 
in  three  carriages  drove  about  the  park.  There 
were  trees  everywhere  older  than  the  house  ;  they 
were  a  hundred  years  old  when  Elizabeth  awaited 
the  crown  beneath  their  shade.  We  dined  in  the 
large  dining-room  with  the  gallery,  and  the  French 
flags  in  it.  There  are  a  good  many  more  besides 
these,  alas  !  that  we  have  lost. 

I  sat  by  Lady  Maude,  who  has  come  out  now,  and 
is  very  agreeable.  After  dinner  there  was  a  little  of 
everything,  promenading  in  these  endless  galleries, 
music  in  one  corner,  games  in  another.  I  was  with 
the  Countess  Schouvaloff,  who  is  a  singular  person, 


3i8  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  ti877- 

and  attractive.  She  will  return  to  St.  Petersburg  in 
fifteen  days,  and  England  will  never  see  her  again. 
I  do  not  understand  her  very  well  as  yet.  After  the 
evening  party  was  over,  the  smoking  began.  It  is 
the  custom  for  every  one  to  change  his  clothes  before 
going  to  the  smoking-room.  It  was  a  happy  time 
for  Schouvaloff.  He  told  some  of  his  stories.  They 
are  always  amusing.  .  .  .  He  told  about  a  trip  in 
Germany  with  His  Majesty  Wilhelm  I.  This  is  the 
manner  of  it :  His  Majesty  addresses  everyone  that 
is  presented  to  him  with  :  "  Your  regiment  ?  '*  The 
person  addressed,  with  a  violent  kick,  replies  :  '*  Zoth 
Fusilier y  dritter  Battalio7t,  erste  Compagnie,'''^  Then 
he  passes  to  the  next  and  the  same  dialogue  begins 
all  over  again.  Whenever  they  arrived  at  a  station 
the  municipal  corps  was  always  on  the  platform. 
The  burgomaster  lines  them  up,  orders  number  three 
to  retire,  number  five  to  advance.  They  all  mark 
time,  and  then :  Still  I  At  last  the  Emperor  arrives  : 
Hut  !     (Salute.) 

Thereupon  I  slept  like  a  rock  until  morning 
prayers,  which  I  heard  from  the  gallery.  I  have 
perhaps  scandalized  the  X.'s,  but  I  believe  that  one 
always  gains  something  in  the  company  of  people  at 
prayer.  The  Marquis  came  in  first,  then  his  sons, 
then  the  guests,  the  domestics,  the  chaplain,  the 
organist, — no  one  was  missing.  There  is  a  time  for 
everything  in  lives  laid  out  on  a  grand  scale. 

London,  November  i8,  1877. 
There  is  general  admiration  for  the  Due  de  Bro- 
1  Both  Fusiliers,  3d  Battalion,  ist  Company. 


I877-]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  319 

glie*s  speech.  Here  is  a  witticism  on  Gladstone: 
"  Certainly,  he  is  an  honest  man,  in  the  worst  sense 
of  the  word/* 

I  have  at  last  met  Lady  Howard.  I  shall  receive 
a  card  to-morrow  for  the  ceremony.^  A  card  is  quite 
indispensable  as  London  and  its  suburbs  will  be 
there.  Let  me  tell  you  how  this  match  was  made. 
The  young  lady  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Duke's 
sisters,  with  whom  she  spent  some  months.  She  had 
first  the  grace  to  allow  them  to  convert  her  to  the 
Church,  and  then  the  luck  to  make  the  acquaintance 
of  their  brother.  Her  face  became  familiar  to  him — 
he  ultimately  came  to  think  her  pretty — which  she 
is  not :  she  has  a  beautiful  figure,  simply.  A  year 
ago  he  was  on  the  point  of  putting  a  period  to  his 
indecision.  It  was  at  a  ball  at  Lady  Early's.  I  was 
there  and  did  not  in  the  least  suspect  what  was  going 
on  under  the  ducal  coronet.  The  evening  advanced  ; 
at  last,  it  is  said,  he  opened  his  mouth  to  declare 
himself  when  an  ill-omened  fellow  came  to  claim  a 
waltz  from  Lady  Flora.  She  left  and  the  Duke 
recovered  his  senses.  The  season  ended,  and  another 
occasion  did  not  present  itself. 

Fortunately  they  met  again  in  the  country.  Lady 
Flora  went  to  Arundel,  and  stayed  two  months 
waiting  and  hoping.  Her  father  grew  angry  and 
ordered  her  to  come  home.  She  announced  her 
departure  for  the  next  day,  with  red  eyes.  The 
next  day  came,  the  packing  was  done ;  she  went — 

1  The  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  First  Duke  and  Earl, 
Hereditary  Earl  Marshall  and  Chief  Butler  of  England,  with  Lady 
Flora  Hastings. 


320  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON.  [1877. 

into  the  garden — to  say  good-bye  to  the  children. 

The  Duke  followed ;  at  last  he  declared  himself — 

he   did  not  have  to  do  it  twice.     A  telegram  was 

sent  in  all  haste  to  *  papa.*   ''  I  remain,  serious  matter, 

see  letter !  '*     Papa  replied  '*  Stay  !  **     And  that  was 

a  clever   stroke — to    become    at   a  stride    the    first 

Duchess  of  England. 

And  now,  day  after  to-morrow,  before  half-past 

ten,  to  the  oratory.     The  doors  will  be  closed  for 

half  an  hour  before,  and  even  thus  I  am  told  there 

will  be  no  place    for  the   bridegrooms  when  they 

come. 

Woburn-Abbey,i  December  16,  1877. 

We  walked  across  the  park ;  under  the  great  trees 
it  was  very  beautiful  in  the  moonlight.  The  fright- 
ened deer  passed  like  shadows.  Dinner  was  served 
in  the  large  dining-room,  with  the  lights  pouring 
down  on  the  service  of  vermilion  and  silver.  I  spent 
the  evening  with  Lady  De-La- Warr,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  blondes  in  England,^  and  with  Lady  Tavi- 
stock who  is  clever,  dresses  well,  and  possesses,  I 
believe,  great  wealth. 

On  retiring  to  your  own  room  you  find  every- 
thing comfortable — an  open  fire.  There  are  open 
fireplaces  all  over  this  great  cloister,  and  every  one 
ablaze  from  morning  till  night.  I  am  always  amazed 
at  the  array  of  buckets,  basins,  and  bath  tubs, — 
enough  for  the  Heroes  of  Homer,  if  they  ever  bathed. 
I  am  supplied  also  with  a  wooden  tripod  to  hold 

1  Residence  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 

2  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Lord  Lamington,  married  to  the  seventh 
Count  De-La- Warr. 


1877]  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON,  321 

my  light,  and  sit  snugly  in   front  of  my  fire  and 
read ! 

At  lunch  I  had  to  have  hare  soup,  made  just  for 
me  alone.  You  see  my  poor  stomach  has  been  out 
of  order  for  over  a  week.  After  luncheon,  took  a 
walk,  paid  a  visit  to  the  stables,  to  the  horse-gear, 
to  the  tennis-courts,  to  the  gardens,  to  the  gallery,  to 
the  gold  statue,^  to  the  kitchen-garden,  to  the  con- 
servatories, etc.,  all  in  this  immense  park.  We 
should  think  it  in  France  a  good  deal  for  one  family. 

Everything  is  done  by  rule  and  scale.  I  find 
that  there  is  an  ex-poacher  in  the  park.  He  is  in- 
stalled as  gamekeeper,  and  has  given  up  his  vocation 
of  poacher  to  somebody  else  ;  and  will  soon  be  the 
best  of  guards  against  the  interlopers,  who  do  so 
much  spoil  the  hunting.  There  was  a  high  wind 
going,  and  rapid  clouds ;  the  great  trees  in  the 
avenue  skirting  the  crest  of  the  park  stood  out 
against  a  troubled  sky.  As  we  mounted  toward  the 
avenue,  the  background  of  the  picture  rose,  eleva- 
tion after  elevation,  .each  more  sombre  than  the  one 
preceding,  and  all  of  it,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  belongs  to  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 
And  he  was  wishing  to  walk  with  a  poor  devil  like 
me,  and  went  to  the  kitchen  himself  to  order  a  soup 
for  me. 

WoBURN- Abbey,  December  17,  1877. 

There  is  a  lack  of  music  here,  as  they  say.  The 
piano  is  open  and  the  candles  lit,  but  no  one  touches 
the  keys.     There  is  a  lack  of  spirit  in  everybody,  of 

1  Of  the  Duchess  of  Bedford,  by  Boehm. 
21 


322  A  DIPLOMAT  IN  LONDON.  [1877. 

reaction  against  the  heaviness  after  dinner,  against 
the  repose  of  Sunday,  and  the  apathy  of  the  day 
following.  Everybody  is  full  of  good  intentions, 
but  there  is  a  dearth  of  invention.  The  dressing 
for  dinner  yesterday  has  been  the  great  event :  they 
opened  a  new  treasury  ;  the  Duchess  carried  another 
firmament  in  her  hair;  Lady  Hermintrude  wore  a 
dress  with  an  apron  ;  the  beautiful  blonde,  a  long- 
trained  blue  satin  gown,  and  the  beautiful  Tavistock 
a  gown  sown  with  pearls  and  a  long  train  set  off 
with  knots  of  ribbon  :  a  court-dress,  which  was 
especially  becoming  to  her. 

There  will  be  no  playing  to-night  as  it  is  Sunday. 
The  only  exceptions  in  England  are  for  chess  and 
fishing.  They  fish  with  a  hook,  for  fish  with  a  ring 
in  their  snouts,  in  a  sheet-iron  tub.  While  in 
France  we  should  dance,  play  charades,  or  crambo, 
or  music.  In  any  event  the  ladies  would  not  be 
forgotten. 

This  morning  I  accompanied  Tavistock  on  a  hunt. 
As  I  was  coming  across  country  without  waiting  for 
the  end  of  the  chase,  I  saw  a  sheep  with  its  legs  in 
the  air.  I  thought  the  poor  thing  was  dead.  Not 
at  all,  he  had  tumbled  on  his  back,  simply,  and  was 
waiting  for  a  good  Samaritan  to  come  and  set  him 
on  his  legs.  I  did  not  fail  him.  He  made  me  think 
of  some  men  I  know. 


We  will  delay  our  meeting  no  longer,  my  dears.^ 

1  M.  Gavard  was   called  from  London  by  M.  Waddington  at  the 
glose  of  1877. 


1877.]  A  DIPLOMA  T  IN  LONDON  323 

If  I  am  obliged  to  hew  wood  and  raise  cabbages  to 
earn  our  bread,  it  will  no  doubt  be  the  happiest 
time  of  my  life.  It  will  occupy  hands  and  brain 
both. 


THE  END. 


INDEX. 


Anson,  Col.,  iii 
Anson,  Mrs.,  63 
Amberley,  Lord,  287 
Athenaeum  Club,  49,  306 
Austria,  Empress  of,  293,  294, 
295 

Balfour,  Rt.  Hon.  A.  J.,  215 
Beaconsfield,    Viscount,    vid. 

Disraeli. 
Beaconsfield,  Viscountess,  94, 

III 
Bedford,    Duke   of,  222,  263, 

321 
Belgium,  King  of,  150 
Bernstorf,  Count,  41,  98,  118 
Bisaccia,  Due  de,  159, 162, 165, 

166,  168,  195,  200 
Bismarck,  27,   234,    242,    244, 

245,  247,  249,  258,  296 
Blenheim,  20 
Broglie,  Due  de,  2,  3,   11,  12, 

22,  32,  38,  95,  97,   100,   loi, 

156,  i6o,  207,  303 
Brunnow,  Baron,  35,  160,  199 
Buckingham  Palace,  no 
Bulwer-Lytton,    E.    R.,    283, 

287,  288 
Burlington,  311 
Burton,  Sir  Richard,  279 

Cambridge-Oxford  boat-race, 

102 
Cardwell,  Viscount,  135 
Carlos,  Don,  295 
Chartres,  Due  de,  21,  22 


"City,"  the,  89 
Clarendon,  Lord,  169 
Communists  —  their     secret 

understanding      with      the 

Prussians,  26 
Covent  Garden,  49 
Crystal  Palace,  109 

Dakin,     Sir     Thomas,     Lord 

Mayor,  59,  60,  62 
Derby  Day,  115 
Derby,    Lord,    117,    182,    188, 

233,  234,  238,  239,  241,  242, 

243,  244,  246,  248,  254,  255, 

258,  263,  307 
Dilke,  Sir    Charles,   174,   194, 

315 

Disraeli,  92,  in,  116,  117,  183, 
235,  236,  237,  265,  278,  280, 
281,  290,  291,  303,  308 

Duff,  Grant,  308 

Eu,  Comte  and  Comtesse  d', 
16 

Favre,  Jules,  i 
Fullerton,    Lady    Georgiana, 
51 

Gavard,  Charles,  Due  de 
Broglie's  notice  of,  iii;  no- 
tice of,  in  the  Moniteur^  vii; 
meets  Due  de  Gramont,  7; 
entrance  of  Prussians  into 
Paris,  8;  goes  to  Morgan 
House,  9;  evening  at  Lady 

325 


326 


INDEX. 


Burdett-Coutts's,i4;  red  flag 
in  Paris,  15;  visit  to  Ox- 
ford, 17;  beginning  of  the 
Commune,  21;  returns  to 
France,  22;  remarks  on  the 
government  at  Versailles, 
24;  removes  his  family  from 
Paris,  25;  returns  to  Eng- 
land as  Charge  d'Affaires, 
26;  cuts  down  expenses  in 
the  Embassy,  29;  business 
at  the  Foreign  Office,  31; 
rout  at  Lord  Mayor's,  32; 
daily  routine  at  the  Em- 
bassy, 33;  dines  at  Lord 
Granville's,  34;  Rothschild's 
place,  35;  visits  the  Central 
Telegraph  Office,  36;  goes 
to  banquet  in  Due  de  Bro- 
glie's  uniform,  38;  idem,  40; 
in  Lord  Granville's  office, 
39;  telegrams  on  the  fight 
in  Paris,  42  ;  getting  Lon- 
don firemen  off,  43;  disap- 
pointment at  their  depart- 
ure's being  countermanded, 
44;  English  sympathy  with 
the  defeated  communists, 
44;  visit  to  Parliament,  47; 
conduct  of  public  business 
in  England,  48;  the  Athe- 
naeum, 49;  Covent  Garden, 
ib,;  at  Walmer  Castle,  51; 
trial  of  artillery,  54 ;  visit 
to  Old  Men's  Home,  55; 
visit  to  church  at  Eaton 
Place,  57;  visit  to  West- 
minster Workhouse,  58;  at 
the  Mansion  House,  59,  60; 
makes  his  speech,  ib.;  visit 
to  fire-brigade  station,  62; 
also  to  fire-tug,  63 ;  criti- 
cises *'The  Rivals,"  64; 
dines  at  the  Rothschilds', 
ib.;  project  in  aid  of  French 
charities,  65  ;  criticism  of 
English  drama,  66;  idem,  67; 
takes  part  in   sham  battle, 


68 ;  BoxingDay,  71 ;  criticism 
of  the  English  drama,  ib.; 
behind  the  scenes,  72;  visit 
to  slums,  73 ;  Sunday  in 
London,  86;  present  at  the 
opening  of  Parliament,  88; 
evening  party  at  Glad- 
stone's, ib.;  visits  Roths- 
child at  his  country  house, 
89;  an  evening  at  Lady 
Cork's,  94;  thanksgiving  for 
Prince  of  Wales's  recovery, 
95,  96;  banquetat  the  French 
hospital,  97;  a  levee,  98; 
dines  at  theRothschilds',99; 
dinner  at  the  Embassy,  loi; 
Cambridge-Oxford  boat- 
race,  102;  remarks  on  the 
conduct  of  public  business 
in  England,  108;  visit  to 
Crystal  Palace,  109;  visit  to 
Buckingham  Palace,  no; 
interview  with  the  Empress 
of  Germany,  113;  in  the 
country,  id.;  dines  at  Lord 
Granville's,  117;  negotia- 
tion for  the  treaty  of  com- 
merce, 119  ;  banquet  at 
Guildhall,  137;  dines  with 
the  Duchess  of  Cleveland, 
141;  visits  Speaker's  house, 
144;  dinner  at  Lord  Gran- 
ville's, 145;  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  147;  dines  at 
Rothschild's,  ib.;  Jewish 
school  in  Whitechapel,  152; 
English  drama,  154;  French 
bazaar,  155;  spring  exhi- 
bition, 156;  English  stage, 
163;  English  Christmas,  164; 
dissolution  of  Parliament, 
171;  follows  a  political  can- 
vass, 172;  fire  in  London, 
179;  visits  Lord  Derby,  182; 
dines  with  Lord  Salisbury, 
184;  review  of  troops  from 
Ashantee,  187;  Livingstone's 
funeral,  189;  dinner  at  the 


INDEX. 


32? 


French  hospital,  190;  the 
Due  de  Bisaccia's  ball,  196; 
culottes,  198  ;  the  Czar  of 
Russia,  199;  Guizot,  205; 
dinner  with  Schouvaloff, 
208;  Ritualists,  211;  at  Hat- 
field House,  212;  at  Woburn 
Abbey,  217;  Henry  VHI., 
224;  visits  the  offices  of  the 
Morning  Post,  225  ;  illness 
and  death  of  Comte  de  Jar- 
nac,  ib.;  the  war-scare  of 
1875,  232;  launching  of  a 
vessel,  260;  dinner  at  the 
Foreign  Office,  262;  Moody 
and  Sankey,  263 ;  sale  in 
Leicester  Square  for  the 
French  charities,  266;  Eng- 
lish drama,  267;  banquet  at 
London  Tavern,  268;  going 
to  the  "meet,"  272;  ne- 
gotiation for  the  sale  of  the 
Suez  shares,  276  ;  purchase 
of  Suez  shares  by  England, 
280;  evening  at  the  Geo- 
graphical Society,  281;  at 
Hatfield  House,  282;  at  the 
opening  of  Parliament,  288; 
is  complimented  by  Disraeli, 
290;  a  spelling-bee,  291;  de- 
bate on  offering  the  Queen 
the  title  of  Empress  of 
India,  292  ;  fanatic  "  Or- 
angeman," 296;  waits  on 
the  Empress  Augusta,  298; 
at  Lockinge  House,  299; 
at  Gunnersbury  Acton,  301; 
English  spelling,  305;  at  the 
Athenaeum,  306;  tricks  Lord 
Derby,  307;  Wade  on  China, 
ib.;  debates  in  Parliament, 
308;  banquet  at  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  309;  con- 
versation with  Salisbury, 
310;  English  art,  311;  coach- 
ing party,  312;  conversa- 
tion with  Salisbury,  314; 
dinner  atSirCharlesDilke's, 


315;   an  open  shutter,  316; 

at  Hatfield   House,  ib.;   an 

aristocratic   courtship,  319; 

at  Woburn  Abbey,  320 
Gladstone,  W.   E.,  3,  38,    65, 

94,   106,   117,   141,   151,  176, 

181,  183,  186,  292,  311,  319 
Grant,  Lieut. -Gen.  Sir  Hope, 

68 
Granville,  Lord,  34,  51,  52,  57, 

67 
Gounod,  37,  42 
Guizot,  William,  204 
Gunnersbury  Acton,  301,  302 

Harcourt,  Comte  Bernard  d', 

119 
Hatfield  House,  212,  214,  215, 

282,  316 
Hayward,  Abraham,  85,  115, 

136,  161 
Hoare,  Sir  Henry,  174 
House    of    Commons,    efforts 

to    silence   a   member,   106; 

divisions,  109 
Howard,    H.     Fitz-Alan,    fif- 
teenth Duke  of  Norfolk,  36, 

37 

Jarnac,  Comte  de,  200,  225 
Joinville,  Prince  de,  15,  31 

Kensington  Museum,  7 

Lockinge  House,  299 
London  slums,  73 

Mansion  House,  32 
Morgan  House,  9,  15 

Napoleon  HL,  28,  267 
Nemours,  Due  de,  13,  16 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,   213, 
215 

Orleans  House,  13 
Oxford,  17 


328 


INDEX. 


Oxford-Cambridge  boat-race, 

102 

Paris,  Comte  de,  5,  12,  46 

Rothschild,  Baron  Lionel,  35, 

64,  89,  99,  278,  281 
Russell,  Lord  John,  236,  238 

Salisbury,  Marquis  of,  94,  184, 

303»  304,  308,  309,  310,  314 

316,  318 
Say,  Leon,  56,  59,  62 
Schouvaloff,  Count,  203,  207, 

208,  248,  286,  295,  297,  307, 

309>  316 
Slums  of  London,  73 
Stael,  Mme.  de,  42 
Stafford  House,  118 


Stanley,  Dean,  306 
Sumner,  Charles,  136 

Thiers,   30,   56,  91,    119,    131, 

134,  156,  207 
Tichborne  case,  150,  161,  167 

Vernon,  Lady,  51 

Victoria,  Queen,    37,    97,   98, 

100,  no,  154,  227,  289,  290, 

292,  294,  295,  296 

Wales,  Prince  of,  11,  66,  93, 

95,  96,  162,  228 
Walmer  Castle,  50,  84 
Westminster  Abbey,  6 
Westonbirt  House,  269 
Woburn  Abbey,  217,  218,  223, 

320,  321 


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humble  chairmanship  of  a  primary  to  the  dictator's  throne. 
...  In  the  use  of  dramatic  possibilities,  Mr.  Ford  is  dis- 
creet and  natural,  and  without  giving  Stirling  a  heroic  pose, 
manages  to  win  for  him  very  hearty  sympathy  and  belief. 
Stirling's  private  and  domestic  story  is  well  knit  with  that 
of  his  public  adventures.   ...   A  very  good  novel." 

The  Atlantic  Monthly  :  **  Commands  our  very  sincere 
respect  .  .  .  there  is  no  glaring  improbability  about  his 
story  .  .  .  the  highly  dramatic  crisis  of  the  story.  .  .  . 
The  tone  and  manner  of  the  book  are  noble.  ...  A  timely, 
manly,  thoroughbred,  and  eminently  suggestive  book." 

The  Review  of  Reviews  :  "His  relations  with  women 
were  of  unconventional  sincerity  and  depth.  .  .  .  Worth 
reading  on  several  accounts." 

The  Dial :  "One  of  the  strongest  and  most  vital  char- 
acters that  have  appeared  in  our  fiction.  ...  A  very 
charming  love-story.  To  discern  the  soul  of  good  in  so  evil 
a  thing  as  Municipal  politics  calls  for  sympathies  that  are 
not  often  united  witn  a  sane  ethical  outlook;  but  Peter 
Stirling  is  possessed  of  the  one  without  losing  his  sense  of 
the  other,  and  it  is  this  combination  of  qualities  that  make 
him  so  impressive  and  admirable  a  figure.  .  .  .  Both  a 
readable  and  an  ethically  helpful  book." 

The  New  York  Tribune:  "A  portrait  which  is  both 
alive  and  easily  recognizable." 

New  York  Times :  "  Mr.  Ford's  able  political  novel." 

The  Literary  World:  "A  fine,  tender  love-story.  .  .  . 
A  very  unusual  but,  let  us  believe,  a  possible  character. 
.  .  .  Peter  Stilring  is  a  man's  hero.  .  .  .  Very  readable 
and  enjoyable." 

The  Independent:  "Full  of  life.  The  interest  never 
flags.  ...  It  is  long  since  we  have  read  a  better  novel  or 
one  more  thoroughly  and  naturally  American." 

The  Boston  Advertiser  :  "Sure  to  excite  attention  and 
win  popularity." 


HENRY  HOLT  &  CO.,  ^^f^fo^J*- 


Hntboni?  lbope'0  1Romancc0 
Ifn  Bucfttam  Series* 

i8mo,  with  Frontispieces,  75  cents  each. 

XLbc  iprtaonet  ot  ^enDa*  32^  EdzHon, 

'*  A  glorious  story,  which  cannot  be  too  warmly  recom- 
mended to  all  who  love  a  tale  that  stirs  the  blood.  Per- 
haps not  the  least  among  its  many  good  qualities  is  the  fact 
that  its  chivalry  is  of  the  nineteenth,  not  of  the  sixteenth, 
century  ;  that  it  is  a  tale  of  brave  men  and  true,  and  of  a 
fair  woman  of  to-day.  The  Englishman  who  saves  the 
king  ...  is  as  interesting  a  knight  as  was  Bayard.  .  .  . 
The  story  holds  the  reader's  attention  from  first  to  last." — 

XLbc  IFnDtecretton  of  tbe  Ducbcsa* 

io^>^  Edition. 
'*  Told  with  an  old-time  air  of  romance  that  gives  the 
fascination  of  an  earlier  day;  an  air  of  good  faith,  almost  of 
religious  chivalry,  givees  rality  to  their  extravagance.  .  .  , 
Marks  Mr.  Hope  as  a  wit,  if  he  were  not  a  romancer." — 
Nation. 

%  ^an  ot  /iRark*  ^th  Edition, 

"  More  plentifully  charged  with  humor,  and  the  plot  is 
every  whit  as  original  as  that  of  Zend  a  ,  .  .  returns  to 
the  entrancing  manner  of  'The  Prisoner  of  Zenda,'  .  .  . 
The  whole  game  of  playing  at  revolution  is  pictured  with 
such  nearness  and  intimacy  of  view  that  the  wildest  things 
happen  as  though  they  were  every-day  occurrences.  .  .  . 
Two  triumphs  of  picturesque  description — the  overthrow 
and  escape  of  the  President,  and  the  night  attack  on  the 
bank.  The  charmingly  wicked  Christina  is  equal  to  any- 
thing that  Mr.  Hope  has  done,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  the  always  piquant  Dolly." — Life. 

Cbe  5)0Ul2  2)ial09Ue6»  ^th  Edition. 

*'  Characterized  by  a  delicious  drollery;  .  .  .  beneath  the 
surface  play  of  words  lies  a  tragi-comedy  of  life.  .  .  . 
There  is  infinite  suggestion  in  every  line,''^— Boston  Tran- 
script. 

a  Cbange  ot  air*  ^th  Edition. 

With  portrait  and  notice  of  the  author. 

"  A  highly  clever  performance,  with  little  touches  that 
recall  both  Balzac  and  Meredith.  ...  Is  endowed  with 
exceeding  originality."— A^^w  York  Times. 

Sport  IROl^aL  Zd  Edition. 

*'  His  many  admirers  will  be  happy  to  find  in  these  stories 
full  evidence  that  Anthony  Hope  can  write  short  stories 
fully  as  dramatic  in  incident  as  his  popular  novels."— /^zVa- 
delphia  Call, 

HENRY  HOLT  &  CO.,  ^^NTw'l^rgf ' 


